


Slice Of Life: F*cked Up Version

by Bibbleicious, thecrayonDragon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Cooking, Bad Writing, Character Death, Daddy Issues, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Everyone Is Gay, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everything Hurts, F/F, Fluff, Funny, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderfluid Character, How Do I Tag, I Blame Tumblr, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Going to Hell, I'm Sorry, Memes, No Lesbians Die, Not Really Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Tags Are Fun, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Tumblr Memes, Verbal Abuse, Vines, sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2020-03-02 12:26:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18810880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bibbleicious/pseuds/Bibbleicious, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecrayonDragon/pseuds/thecrayonDragon
Summary: Ceil has lived a tortured life so far and after finally thinking she escaped and could live a peaceful life with her sibling strange things started happening again. Is there no way back to a semi-okay life?Ceil: Better put on your seatbelt because we're about to go off a cliff of emotional problems.... and memes.updates once a week





	1. Prologue

Ciel POV

 

I guess not everyone expects to go through what I went through-or am going through, my life was already crappy enough before...well before the shit hit the fan. Even after that, my life was still crappy and it even got worse in some aspects, at least I’m alive I suppose. But after all, is it even worth it sometimes? It gets so hard but you know what they say: if you can't live for yourself, live for everyone else. I’ll continue moving on and I’ll keep going through whatever crap life gives me, so bring it on life!- wait no I take that back I don't want to jinx it!! Fuck, now that I’ve said it I can tell I’m going to regret it…a lot, but what's life without a bit of a challenge. Plus I wouldn't have met her if I had it simple.


	2. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~We are not creative with titles yet~(bubble)  
> yet-the power of yet (dragon)

“Haskell! I’m going to work, don’t ruin anything while I’m gone!” Haskell gives me a blank look, “I can’t promise anything Ceil.” I pout, I swear if They break anything I will....I’ll do something. I go out the door of my “apartment” and begin my partially long walk to work. It’s my first day back on the job actually, I haven’t been working in ages due to circumstances but They were nice enough to look after Haskell while I was gone so I’ll work extra hard.

“Hello everyone!” Everyone turns towards me, faces ranging from confusion, shock and happiness. Suddenly I’m crowded and a million things are being said to me.

“Your hair!” “I can’t believe you’re back!” “What happened to you?” “Are you okay?” “Are you still single?”

Wait what was that last one? I can’t breathe, everyone needs to back off or I’m going to-

“Everyone pace yourselves! You’re overwhelming her!”

Everyone pauses and rushes back to their seats at the sound of boss’ voice. I take in much-needed gulps of air and give myself some time to settle down. Thank God for this holy man right here.

“Thanks a lot.”

“No problem Ceil, just glad to see you back.”

I smile at him, I’m still working on the sincerity, of it but he seems satisfied to let it go.

“Now please everyone, we have lots of work, please go easy on Ceil and ask one question at a time.”

“Yes, sir!”

Boss walks back into his ominous office, and I turn towards my desk. I sit down in my swivel chair and proceed to turn extremely fast. 

“So Ceil, what’s with your hair?”

I turn towards Lily, I’m not surprised having your hair the colours of the bi flag would raise questions. It’s also longer than what I first had...not that I had a say in the matter.

“I wanted to go unique, new year new me!” 

I flash my finger guns at her and she groans while rolling her head, but I did see a smile in there. Cheesy memes for the win. 

It’s not as hard as I thought it would be to get back into the groove of work, maybe it’s because I’ve done so much work in the past. Ugh, I’m never going to make it past 30 with all this stress on my shoulders, better make these next 10 years count. I wonder what I should do...take Haskell out somewhere obviously, They’re such a problem sometimes but I don’t blame Them. They’re even more reclused than last time, I don’t know what I going to do about Them. It’s too early in the morning for this, focus on work for now and deal with personal problems later!

The day is a usual day, I’m actually grateful for work for once! I never thought I would ever be saying those words. I really must have changed, I need some serious vine therapy when I get home.

As time passes through the day a few people ask a few questions. Nothing too bad just kinda annoying to answer really. I sighed and looked out my window ready for this day to be over. The sky is clear blue, the clearest I can remember it to be, two pitch black crows flew across the sky and out of sight. Huh, I thought there was a whole nest in a few trees away, must have grown up in the time I was away. I'll ask when I get back home. I wonder if They have broken anything yet. Heh, They tend to get in trouble… from what I remember anyway.

 

I sighed again and pushed myself away from my desk, and hop off my chair, eyes flickering to the left to take note of the time, 1:20. I slowly make my way to my bosses office, taking in the sight of how this place has changed. Oh my god, Janice got real old quick, holy shit so did Joben. Shit man is that Tsukki? Man, he got tall, I wonder if he is still as salty as the red sea.

‘Hey ‘Suk!’ I call out jogging to where he was towering over the printer in the paper room.

‘What do you want skimpy?’ he sneers at me never taking his eyes off of what he is scanning. 

‘Wow ‘Suk, below the belt man, it hurts right here,’ I say as I knock my fist against my right side of my chest.

‘Wrong side dumbass’ 

‘Ah shit really,’ ‘Suk just nods his head as I switch hands and sides knock my chest once before dropping it to my side. ‘Welp I am glad you mostly stayed the same ‘Suk, taller, gorgeous and extra salty.’

‘Yea, yea you Rue paul looking mother-’

‘No swearing in this Christian server and rue paul is fab so I'm gonna take that as a compliment!’ I cut him off, give him the finger-snap guns, then walk off, smiling a little brighter.

 

I quickly walk past the secretary who nods her head at me once signalling that I could continue to go inside. I walk up to the green opaque glass doors. I glance to my right at the golden nameplate with Tobio Hinata Wow I know written in elegant cursive writing. I take a deep breath and knock once on the door before letting myself in while exclaiming,

‘Hey hey hey Tobio!!’ Tobio laughs softly and smiles as he pushes his pens and papers off to the left so there is nothing in between us.

‘Hey Ceil, how are you these days’ he asks while gesturing for me to sit down. Seeing my chance I go for it.

‘Oh hi, thanks for checking in, I’m still a piece of garbage!” I giggle at how hilarious I am, Tobio doesn’t look overly impressed himself though.

‘I’m glad you’re still...you”

“What’s the supposed to mean? Don’t be mean.” We stare intently at each other before we both break down from the ‘tension’ in the air. I missed this so much, these moments make everything worth it.

“So, all jokes aside, I guess we have some catching up to do?” I expected Tobio to go full ‘boss’ mode on me but he doesn’t, his face remains soft. Well as soft as it can be, he just isn’t one of those kinds of people who show emotion well.

“I understand a lot has happened to you recently, I don’t want you going fully back to work yet.”

“But I need-”

“I’ll still pay you for your usual hours, but you’ll need to make up by working more shifts once everything has settled down.” We sit in silence for a bit while I contemplate. I get where he’s coming from but work is a great distraction for me...but I guess forcing myself won’t work well either. What should I do?

“I’ll give you this week to think about it. Come back when you’ve decided to agree or not.”

He breaks my thoughts, I look up at him and hum.

“Thanks, Tobio, I’ll get back to you on that soon.” He waves his hand and dismisses me from his fancy office.

The rest of my day is average thankfully, but I’m constantly thinking about what to do. I don’t want Them to burden Themselves for me any longer but what if I make a bigger problem by causing issues at work because I’m not ready to go back? Ugh, why does this have to be so difficult? Interestingly enough, I didn’t end up having to make a choice, it was made for me when I saw her, a girl looking distressed in a crowd, desperately trying to talk to someone.

“Hey, Miss are you okay?” The girl turns to me, her sky blue eyes bore into me with surprise.

“You can-I don’t....you can see me?”

… Wait, what?!


	3. Questioning Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh...I don't really do summaries
> 
> Things are questioned but no answers are learned. Typical.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Sorry this came out late~  
> We're trying to post every Monday~ All from Bibbleicious

“You can see me?”  
“Wait for what?” The girl looks stunned, hand half over her mouth, she looks like she might burst into tears at any moment.  
“Hey hey, uh don’t cry, what’s wrong?” The girl goes to speak then glances around seemingly hesitant.  
“We should go somewhere more private, you look weird.” Excuse me? Did she just figuratively backhand me? Also, why would I go with a stranger? The last time I did that nothing good happened. Yet, curiosity killed the cat-but you know what they saw, satisfaction brought it back- and I have nothing better to do at the moment so...alright. Actually, now that she mentions it, a few people are staring at me like I’ve done something wrong. Lmao but what new. People really haven't changed.  
The girl begins to saunter off towards a more closed off location in the city, but there are still people around. I could call for help if I wanted to.  
“Do you feel better now?” I turn to the girl, why was she asking me that? She's the one who wanted to move away.  
“Um, yeah? Shouldn’t I be asking you that though?” The girl smiles at me, it’s a sombre smile like she’s carrying a heavy-weight and she’s trying to lift it all by herself.  
“There’s no need to ask, I thought you were uncomfortable being in a place with only me. So having people around would help you feel better.” This girl was weird, I can’t think of any other word to describe her.  
“So, what’s wrong?” I decided to ask my original question once more. The girl turns away from me, looking towards the concrete below us or maybe she’s looking at something else I dunno. I can't really put myself in her shoes? Is she even wearing any? I look down at her feet, huh turns out she is.  
“A lot of things are going wrong right now but I don’t know if I should be asking you to help.” The girl smiles again, barely present, she looks upset but I’m emotionally dysfunctional and have no idea what I'm even supposed to do doing.  
“Please live your life Ceil, you’ve earned it.” The girl turns away from me completely and begins to walk away back into the crowded streets. I stand there stunned, my brain starting to process what just happened. A feeling surges through me like something was wrong with what she said but I can’t put my finger on it. There was something that was bugging me, actually, a lot of it bugs me but there’s something specific. I begin to run through the conversation we had in my mind once again, the girl was obviously troubled and didn’t want me, of all people to help. Suddenly two things in my mind click. Two very strange things that she had said.  
She asked me if I could see her earlier  
She knew my name and seemed to know me  
What was going on here? Have I met her before? I think I would remember someone like her, I mean, you don’t see brown to green hair every day. Unless she dyed it after I met her, still though, I don’t recognise her at all. I didn’t even ask for her name. I face-palm, good going Ceil, you had like one job. Now, what should I do? Can I even go after her now? She disappeared into the streets, the likelihood of me finding her is like...a small number out of a.... uh... big number? I should leave it, I don’t know the girl and I don’t have to help her...but I sort of want to. I sigh and begin walking back to my so-called apartment...I really need to get us a better living space.  
“Haskell, I’m back!” I shut the door behind me with my foot, because it looks cooler. I look around but don’t see any sign of them anywhere.  
“Haskell?” They don’t answer...alright Ceil don’t panic, they’re probably playing a prank on you that’s all. I continue to look around when I feel something grasp my hand. Instincts kick in and I go to hit whatever touched me but before I full on backhand the thing, I see Haskell grasping my hand.  
“Holy shit Haskell don’t do that to me! Say something, I could’ve hurt-”  
“You were gone for too long.”  
“What?” My hand hurts, Haskell is crushing it in their grip. Their body is shaking and it looks like they’re having trouble breathing.  
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I turn to them and place my hand on their shoulder. Their body shakes more, soft sobs escaping their lips. I can see the tears falling from their face, seemingly unending.  
“Stop leaving me, it scares me.” They speak between their broken sobs, struggling with every breath. Ah, I half-heartedly think, that’s why. I hug them tight and let them cry and cling to me. It’s been hard for them, they’re nowhere near ready for the outside world yet. It’s sad but I don’t know if they’ll ever be ready, I can’t give them everything they need but I’ll do my best. We sit there for who knows how long but I’m getting serious pins and needles.  
“Haskell?” Haskell looks at me curiously, eyes still puffy and red from their crying.  
“Do you know a girl with brown to green hair and blue eyes?” Haskell ponders for a moment, but then shake their head. Huh, so Haskell didn’t know the girl either.  
“Why did you ask?” They look to me, awaiting my answer.  
“I met her on the street today and it seemed like she knew who I was. It was very weird.” They frown at my response.  
“Don’t go with strangers.” I laugh, that’s good advice but I won’t follow it.  
“True.” They frown deeper, obviously noticing that I’m not being serious about it. I glance out the window and flinch.  
“Ceil?” I look down at Haskell, who felt my flinch. I lean down to their ear.  
“Look outside! The girl’s out there again!” They immediately turn around and look out the window. I can see the girl just standing outside, looking at something in the distance that I can’t see myself. Haskell turns around to face me again.  
“Where?” What do they mean where?  
“Right in front of us! In the middle of the field!” I begin pointing towards her through the window and they turn around again to look. They look intensely but constantly have a confused look on them.  
“I don’t see anyone. That’s not very funny Ceil, I was worried she was a stalker or something.” Haskell looks displeased with me, they turn around and wander into the kitchen area. What was going on? I look out the window again and I still see her. Did Haskell go blind since I last saw them? No, they would’ve told me or at least one of the neighbours would’ve. Maybe I really am insane, no one in town noticed her either. I’m the only one who stopped to help her out, I must be dreaming or something.  
“Haskell! I’m going outside for a while! Stay here!” Before they respond I go out the door and march towards the girl.  
“Hey!” The girl flinches and spins around at the sound of my voice. She looks surprised for a second then goes back to smiling.  
“I should’ve known better. You really can’t get away that easily can you?” I look at her confused. What was she talking about? Alright, time to set my priorities. I’ll ask her what the heck she’s talking about!  
“What’s your name?” Wait, I didn’t mean to say that. What’s wrong with me? The girl keeps a soft gaze on me, she stands in silence. How long is she going to take?  
“My name is Kinume. It’s a pleasure to meet you Ceil.” She has a knowing look on her face like she knows that I’m onto her.  
“How do you know my name?” I stand my ground, giving off warning signals in my body language because I am the alpha wolf here. Kinume only responds by un-tensing further, giving a calm vine-vibe I meant vibe, dammit brain.  
“I watched you escape. I’m sorry I couldn’t help but I’m a little tied up at the moment.” Escape? Escape from wha...wait. She can’t be talking about...no one knows but me what happened. How did...maybe she’s just confused!  
“Escape? What do you mean?” Kinume doesn’t look away from me, but I want to break the eye contact we have. I’m feeling stressed, I need to take a couple of breaths.  
“From the facility, from the pain, from him.” My mind blanks, it must’ve shown on my face because Kinume suddenly shows concern for me. My legs buckle and my knees hit the grass, I barely register the fact that it hurt and I shouldn’t do that again any time soon. Kinume strides over to me but doesn’t do anything, she simply sits next to me and waits. What is she waiting for? My mind begins to run again, but now it’s to fast. So many thoughts, I don’t want to remember anything. Why can’t I just escape?  
“Ceil, please take deep breaths. Follow me if you can hear me.” I turn to her, not really listening. She takes big breaths purposefully and I try to copy but it’s too hard. I can’t I can’t I can’t Ican’tIcan’tIcan’tIcan’tIcan’tIcan’t-  
“Ceil.” I flinch.  
“Ceil, Ceil, you’re safe here. No one can get you here if you can hear me you need to start breathing. Just follow me and you’ll start feeling better.” Hearing my name brings back some clarity into my world, I try once more to follow Kinume’s breathing. I struggle to begin with but she’s patient and gives me constant encouragement to keep going.  
“Can you understand me?” I turn to Kinume and nod my head. My throat hurts and I feel a little dizzy from all the breathing.  
“That’s good, you did will calming yourself down like that.” It occurs to me that Kinume comes off as very motherly, or she’s just extremely nice. Or she’s a really good liar and I’m in serious trouble. I finally compose myself enough to start talking once again. I don’t really want to talk about that so I’ll ask about something else.  
“What’s wrong?” Kinume turns to me and sighs.  
“My daughter, I guess you could call her, needs serious help but I can’t help her.” I tilt my head and Kinume giggles for a second. I didn’t think Kinume would have a child, she looks around 18 years old. Then again...teen pregnancies aren’t uncommon nowadays...I think?  
“Oh um, what do you mean you guess?”  
“She’s not blood-related but she’s as close as any daughter, I’d adopt her if I could but I won’t get the chance.” I wonder why.  
“Well, maybe I can help?” Kinume looks surprised and then looks really excited.  
“Really? I won’t get you to do it without repaying you and you can say no if you want to. It won’t be an easy task.” I ponder this for a bit, I could really use the money right now and if it’s too sketchy I’ll run away screaming. Sounds like a solid plan!  
“Alright, I’ll come and check it out!” Kinume looks elated.  
“Thank you so much!” I stand up and offer out my hand to her, but she shakes her head and gets up herself. I don’t think she meant to be rude but I still feel a little offended


	4. Yay! More children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> um things happen i guess?-thecrayongsong

After telling Haskell I’ll be gone for a while, they insisted on coming with so they came along. Much to my annoyance. Kinume leads the way, walking a far way out into the field.  
“Ceil where are we going?”  
“I’ll tell you when we get there.” This is pretty much how it went the whole time we’re walking, I often heard Kinume giggling to herself which caused me to laugh as well. I wonder why Haskell hasn’t asked me about Kinume yet, maybe they think she’s a work friend.  
“In here,” Kinume speaks up and points towards a cave. It reeks like literal death, I’m going to throw up. However, Haskell has already beaten me to it and emptying the contents of her stomach onto a poor, innocent blush. Curse my weak stomach, I feel disgusting. I look to Kinume to see she isn’t bothered by the smell at all but actually looks really concerned for us.  
“How are you not throwing up?” I ask her and immediately regret opening my mouth, my chest tightens, my mouth dries out and I throw up all over the ground.  
“I can’t smell anything, but maybe we should go back. If it’s that bad out here you won’t want to go inside.” It’s worse inside?! What the heck is in here that Kinume needs help with?  
“Ceil, why are we here?” Haskell seems to have recovered and is looking at me with a disgusted look.  
“There’s something in here that we have to get.” Haskell pulls a face.  
“Really? It’s not worth dying for.” I sort of agreeing this stench feels like poison. I turn to Kinume, silently asking for help.  
“There’s a girl in there. She needs serious help, but to get to her you’ll need to go into the cavern.” There’s a person in there?!  
“Haskell, stay out here, I have to get whoever’s in there!”  
“Wait!” I jump into the cavern, adrenaline pumping through me. It’s not enough to block out the stench though and I gag the whole way through. Kinume was right, somehow it keeps getting worse the more I go in. I finally see something in the darkness. There’s a lump but I can’t tell what the heck it is. I pick it up with ease and hope that this is the girl. I run out of the cave and proceed to hiss at the sunlight. This day is sucking so far. I hear Haskell gasp and begin to gag again. I look down and almost drop the girl in shock. It’s a child, but she looks, it’s impossible to describe. Her skin is tight around her bones and is somehow sinking in past them, you can see every individual bone.  
“What the fu-”  
“Quickly! Follow me!” Kinume's voice cuts me off. I glance towards her and she shows confidence, it makes you want to listen to her.  
“C’ mon Haskell, move it or lose it!” I begin to run after Kinume and I hear Haskell’s footsteps behind me, they’re eerily quiet. They’re probably still trying to understand what’s going on. Kinume leads us to a house, it’s rather nice actually but rather isolated.  
“Go inside, it’s my house, just like her on the couch to your left.” I nod and open the door. To my left there is a couch like she said, I lie the girl down on it and step back. Alright, first of all, check on Haskell, they’ve been way too quiet.  
“Haskell? How are you holding up?” Haskell is silent then clings onto my side. They aren’t crying but they seem really shaken up, not that I blame them.  
“What’s wrong with her?” I hear them whisper, don’t they remember I’m like 95% deaf in both ears? I wouldn’t have heard them if I wasn’t paying attention.  
“A lot of things, but we’re here now.” I may say that but I have no idea what I’m doing. Calling a hospital seems like a great idea but being the dumbass I am, I did a movie cliche of leaving it at home. I’m really losing my mind if I’m being this stupid.  
“Thank you for helping her.” I jump at Kinume’s voice, I didn’t even hear her. Haskell looks at me funnily as I turn to face Kinume.  
“Uh right, but can you give me some details, please? I am very confused.” Kinume continues smiling, does she ever stop? It’s kind of weird but also comforting...I can’t decide whether I like it or not.  
“Her name’s Mirai...” Kinume drifts off, it seems like she wants to say more but feels hesitant. She glances at Haskell for a moment, then back towards me.  
“How old is she?” Kinume asks, gesturing to Haskell.  
“Actually Haskell is non-binary and they’re turning 17.” Kinume looks a little surprised by my answer.  
“Sorry about that. They don’t quite look 17 do they?” I look down at Haskell, Kinume has a partial point, Haskell looks a lot smaller than your usual 17-year-old but that’s mainly because of malnutrition despite my best efforts. Haskell looks rather pale and scared they’re really shaken up huh? I rub their shoulders in an attempt at comfort.  
“You didn’t explain anything else Kinume.” Kinume remains quiet then begins to speak.  
“She’s also from the facility, she only recently got out like yourself.” She’s what?! This little girl was also in the facility?! I turn back around to look at the girl, I mean Mirai. I feel worse every time I see her, she looks hollow like everything has been taken out from inside her and they only left the shell. But looking at her I can see a multitude of scars, faint and barely noticeable because of her pale skin.  
“What’s that?” I ask, now noticing something shining on Mirai’s body. She’s wearing a beautiful necklace. It’s a jewel in the shape of a teardrop that has a multitude of colours constantly swirling within it. It shines softly, it gives you a feeling of looking into something deeper, deeper than what I could understand. Oh no, I’m getting existential crisis’ DISENGAGE! DISENGAGE!  
“Don’t take it away from her. Unless she asks you to...it’s a very important keepsake.” Haskell now looks rather curiously at the necklace. They reach out to touch it before I even notice their hand moving.  
“Haskell wait!” Her finger touches the crystal and the jewel glows brighter, the colours seeming to have stars within them are swirling around even more. Then it dies down and nothing else happens. We stand there in silence, unsure as to what happened. Then Kinume points towards Haskell’s chest.  
“Haskell look!” I turn towards where Kinume is pointing and underneath the skin of their chest is a soft glow. Haskell looks utterly confused and scared that something was happening to them. Suddenly they double over in what looks to be a pain, curling up into a ball, gasping for air, clutching the clothes around her chest. I rush over and bring them into my arms, trying to comfort them. What is happening?! This is why we don’t touch weird things!  
“Kinume! Do you know what’s happening?” When I turned to Kinume, I saw something for a split second. Like an image flickered, she changed and was back to normal. My eyes are going crazy. I don’t know how but she’s completely composed and kneels down next to me and looks into my eyes.  
“Deep breaths Ceil, Haskell isn’t physically hurt. I’m not completely sure what’s happening but it has to do with Mirai. Just keep comforting them, they’ll need to ride this out, Mirai might be trying to wake up.” Wake up? Whatever, I don’t care about that right now. I continue to try and comfort Haskell, but it hurts so much. I feel like crying for them, but I don’t because that’s not what they need right now. Kinume is comforting me as well, making sure I’m staying strong. Eventually, it stops, Haskell is left gasping for breath, silent tears streaming down their face.  
“Haskell? Can you hear me?” Haskell nods and leans up to fully hug me.  
“It hurts, it hurt so much.” They repeat it over and over again, clinging to me. Today has been a very emotionally draining day and it had started off so normal too. I turn to Kinume but she’s standing over Mirai, relief surrounding her. I would get up as well but Haskell feels more important right now. After a while, I rise to my feet along with Haskell, but Haskell collapses against me immediately. I catch them while they mumble something about ‘feeling weak’, so I drag them to the side of the couch. I wasn’t ready to see Mirai though, but she was awake. She had pink eyes, her left eyes devoid of a pupil and extremely dark, however, the right eye was...it’s hard to describe. Alive, yet devoid of any emotion, simply staring at me. It was awkward until I saw my perfect opportunity. I placed Haskell on the couch and everyone was watching me as I walked towards the fireplace. I turned around. Tension and silence hung in the air.  
“Why don’t we just relax and turn on the radio? Would you like am or fm?” I then turned the radio on top of the fireplace on and YMCA begins screaming through it.  
Chaos soon ensued.  
My job was complete.


	5. Let the Memes Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> money, illegal things and sleeping

Haskell was not impressed in the slightest, after the whole ordeal They turned the radio off and dragged me back to the couch.   
“Ow, Haskell!” They glare at me and continue pulling my ear, it really hurts!  
“Geez, I was trying to lighten the mood!” Haskell huffs and crosses Their arms, They’re such a moody teenager sometimes. At least I got a couple of giggles from Kinume but Mirai hasn’t changed at all. Tough crowd…  
“So Ceil, now what?” Haskell’s voice surprises me as I turn to Them. That’s a good question, I turn to Kinume.  
“Yeah, what are we supposed to do now?” Kinume glances at Mirai then back at me again, contemplating something. She remains quiet for a bit and looks down to the side, a feeling of deep sadness envelopes me for a moment. Haskell grips my hand just a little tighter for a moment as well, did They feel it as well?  
“I can’t take care of her, but I can watch over her. It would be best if you could take care of her. I can give you everything you need to care for her. In the drawer over there, there is a safe. It has a generous proportion of my money in there. You can transfer it into your bank account so you can look out for yourselves. You’re also welcome to stay in this house as long as you like, but it will need a bit of hard work to make it look better.” I stay silent, a little stunned and needing a moment to process. Kinume might take this the wrong way…  
“You can say no if you want to. We don’t even know each other and you’re under no obligation to help out. It would be a lot of trouble for you, but even if you say no I still want you to take the money. I did say I’d repay you for helping me with my favour.” Kinume smiles softly at me, it makes me feel guilty. She is right I don’t have to help this girl, but if what Kinume said earlier was true...this young girl was also in the facility. If she experienced the same horrors as me, is there really anyone but me who could help her? Could professionals help her? Counselling hasn’t solved anything for me, it makes me feel worse. Nothing about what happened there could be put in a good light, not even the worst of criminals deserve to be imprisoned there. Haskell grips my hand tight, distracting me from my inner tangent. I look down to Them only to see a look of concern from Them. I smile and pat their head, this settles Them down....a little bit. I look at Mirai again, I’m nowhere near qualified to take this girl in, I can’t even handle myself at the moment. The adult thing to do would take her to the hospital and let the child carers take her but...I kind of want to pull a story moment and take her under my wing for no other reason than I can. Is this even legal? Probably not…I don’t even notice Kinume smiling at me before she speaks.  
“She isn’t legally born, just so you know. She isn’t on any records, the only people who know she exists are us. So you will have a bit of trouble on the legal side, but you can deal with that after she’s healthier,” I nod my head, my choice made.   
“I’ll take her in and take care of her.”  
“What?!” Haskell butts in beside me.  
“How could we possibly take care of her? We can barely watch ourselves!” I release Haskell’s hand and walk over the draw Kinume referenced earlier. I open the draw and a large safe sits in there.   
“The code is 0405” Kinume perks up and I put the code into the four digit lock. The safe door unlocks and I open it. There are stacks of money in there like I can’t even describe it. Haskell gasps behind me then rushes over to crouch next to me.   
“How did you know this was in here?!” Haskell turns to me, shocked and even looking a little bit betrayed.   
“Magic!” I laugh and Haskell looks annoyed.   
“With all of this, we can actually do some decent things!” I say to try and lighten their spirits and They pause for a moment. But in order to do anything in the first place, I need to get Them used to the outside world. Ah, imagine all the fun sibling things we could do! Yelling memes in the streets, social experiments, pulling pranks, all the usual things. I must’ve pulled a weird face because Haskell is giving me a look.  
“Let’s go to the bank now!” Haskell stands up and begins to walk out the door.  
“Wait! What about the child?” I turn to look at Mirai, who’s going to look after her?  
‘The child has a name Haskell. It’s Mirai.’  
“It’s fine. I’ll be here with her, I’m sure she’d like some time to herself anyway.” I nod towards Kinume and march out the door taking Haskell with me. It’s a bit of a walk and struggling to navigate where the heck we were but we eventually made it.   
“Aaand here we are! Where all of my problems begin and end!” I make exaggerating gestures with my hands and the front door only to find that Haskell isn’t by my side. Ah shit, I forgot how anti-social They are. Good going me, now where the heck are They? I look around and spot a tuft of brown, choppy hair behind a large tree. I wander over.  
“Haskell? You here?” They poke their head out from behind the tree, obviously frightened, their skin extremely pale. They look sweaty and are trying to take large breaths. Signs They may be going into a panic attack as if They hadn’t had enough trouble today. I stand in front of Them and kneel down so I’m not towering over Them.   
“Haskell? It’s Ceil, I’m right here. I’m going to hold out my hand okay? You can hold it if you want to.” I raise my hand slowly and patiently wait for Them to take it. Except They don’t, They shake their head and start breathing harder. Shit, why can’t anything ever go to plan? They start curling in on Themselves more, things taking a much more serious turn. I thought I was going to have to take serious measures when a sense of warmth floods me. Haskell flinches, then starts breathing normally again, They’re just as confused as I am. They look at me with more clarity in their eyes and begin to register their surroundings once again.  
“Ceil? Did you do that?” I consider shaking my head, but that might freak Them out seeing They don’t know what happened.  
“Who knows? It’s elementary my dear Watson!” That gets a smile out of Them and They roll their eyes. I stand up and hold my hand out to Them again. They take it and we begin to walk towards the bank again. Sticking to the shadows as much as we can and stopping when Haskell grips me a little too tightly. Once we get in, Haskell has hidden under my sweater, I go forward to talk to one of the employees. After showing Them the amount of money, counting it, answering their questions, trying not to break under their distrusting gaze, I had $1,870,000 and I almost passed out at the amount. Why did Kinume have so much anyways? Did she steal it? I hope she didn't, you know they can trace money right I hope they don't hunt us down...that would really suck.   
“Well...today has been very strange and I can’t decide if it’s good strange or bad strange.” Haskell nods beside me. Lots of things have happened, some good...some bad. Now that everything is settling down in my brain I feel exhaustion hit me in tidal waves. I stumble for a second but right myself before I fall. Haskell must be exhausted as well, They didn’t even comment that I almost fell flat on my face. When we get back to Kinume’s house nothing had changed. Kinume was standing next to Mirai, gently watching over her. She then looks over at us two.  
“You look exhausted, it has been a long day. There’s room upstairs you can sleep in, don’t mind if it’s dusty at all.” I waited for her to tell us that there was a room we couldn’t go into just so I could go in there because I can. But she doesn’t, she smiles and turns back to Mirai once more. I look to Haskell.  
“Let’s go upstairs Haskell, we can talk more in the morning.” Haskell nods and we head upstairs. My mind slowly drifts and I don’t pay attention to anything but the softness of the bed.


	6. Shit Happens man.

Ceil 3rd person POV

~Dreams are in italics~

_Somewhere over the rainbow... Ceil is laying back at the facility. In her small cell waiting. What for? Who knows? Certainly not her! Maybe she was waiting to have food, she hadn’t had that in a while. Or maybe she was waiting to see Haskell again, that would be nice. Though she knew better, none of those things would happen anytime soon. She lays there still, stiff and afraid that even the slightest movement would bring the guards running to her. Then she hears it. Those loud, slow precise steps creeping closer to her. The only sound she can hear. She tenses until her shoulders are at the tip of her ears and her knees are as straight as they can be, almost bending the wrong way. She knows what those steps mean, she knows whos legs are lifting the feet, and she hates that it makes her so scared, why wasn’t she strong enough? Why can one person scare her so much that she looks like a corpse that rigour mortis set in ages ago? Barely breathing she holds the only thing she owns now, a small picture the size of her hand, of the two of them side by side. Wishing she could see their smiling face again._

_The steps have reached the door and stopped, she holds her breath waiting. Three loud timed knocks hit the door ‘knock...knock...knock’. The door hisses as it opens and there stands a man, dressed in black head to toe, his three-piece suit perfectly tailored to his shape. Darkness hooded his face, all but his malicious smile._

_‘~Oh Ceil~’ he calls out, ‘~it’s time to play~’  and her heart stops, but she gets up quietly, tucking the photo into the thin gap in between the wall and the bed. Though she stands tall she never lifts her head-she knows what happens to those who don't respect him. She really does miss Jack he was nice, but now the cell is empty._

_The man grabs her arm jerking her forward and pushing her so she is in front of him._

_‘~Now my child how about we try something new huh~’ the man speaks up pushing her to the left instead of to the usual right turn she is forced to make. And so she listens, moving to the left there was a door, a red door but from the corner, the colour black was creeping up. The man opens the door and she sees that it is filled with ropes and whips chains and clips and blood. So much blood. The man slams the door and she jumps afraid of what's going to happen. He grabs her neck slamming her into the wall, and she can’t breathe, and she hopes that maybe this will be the last time but she knows she wrong… she’s always wrong…._

 

I jerked awake but was stopped by an unknown force. I looked around unable to move my head down to see what was holding me to the benc-bed, it was a bed, my breathing slowed down from near hyperventilating. I realise Haskell must have hopped into bed next to me at some point in the night. Heh, They were always a heavy sleeper. I struggle to turn and face Them, They have a strong grip for their size. I shift to the right, trying to get out of her death grip. After a few minutes of struggling, I’m finally free. I creep slowly towards the bathroom, still drowsy from sleep I stumble over to the sink and stare blankly at the basin, refusing to look at the mirror. A loud thump followed by an inhuman screech that only Haskell is capable of reaches my ears. I turn quickly and wrench the door open with so much force that it almost comes off of its hinges.

‘Haskell? What happened?’ I shout probably loud enough to wake up the other side of the world. ‘Ah, fudge, the hurt like a buttcheek on a stick’ I exclaim, as I land butt first on the floor, a hand and lap full of Haskell.

‘You okay my little night sky?’ I ask,

‘...No…’ Haskell replies after a small beat if hesitation

‘What's wrong?’

‘You left…and I was scared’ they replied burrowing deeper into my chest. I could tell they were trying not to cry. I rubbed their back in comfort gripping Them tighter.  

‘I’m not going to leave you anytime soon, well not for long anyway. I do need some privacy.’ I say half-heartedly trying to lighten the mood. Haskell gives a small giggle, I smile down at Them in response.

‘As comfortable as this is, I need blood circulating through me please.’ They scramble off my lap, quietly apologising but They don’t look sincere at all. The door creaks and both our heads whip around towards the sound. Mirai stands at the door, I can only see half of her though with the door still partially closed in front of her. She tilts her head but remains quiet.

“Uh...should you be up?” I ask her, she doesn’t respond except tilting her head again. She’s like a dog. I go to stand up and she flinches back behind the door more. I stop moving in response, then proceed slower this time. Mirai slides behind the door even more, so I take a step back and wait. She opens the door more and quietly steps inside keeping the door wide open. An escape route no doubt. I sit on the bed and wait for her to make the first move. I keep my hands open and on my lap, showing her I have no weapons on me. She moved to the side keeping the door in eyesight, finding a chair and sitting down facing towards me and Haskell.

 

I wait a few moments before speaking up,

‘uh are you-’ I was cut off by the sudden movement of the bed no longer having the weight it previously had. I spin around to see Haskell slowly making her way over to the... Uh, child, I guess, though she does have the hardened eyes of a war veteran. And surprisingly Mirai allows this to happen sitting perfectly still shoulders back and head tilted at a perfect right angle. Huh, didn't think that was possible. Haskell creeps closer before kneeling on the floor and tilts her head to look at the kid, and they wait, I assume for the poor kid to make the first move. But I could be wrong, coz you know what assuming does? It makes an ass out of you and me. There was a minute of silence before Mirai lifted her hands.


	7. life what is it, by j.k. Rowling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> guess what peeps? a new POV yay!!!-dragon

Not really by j.k rowling 

Haskell's POV 

Mirai began moving her hands in weird gestures and patterns. I begin to recognise some of the gestures as sign language. This girl knew sign language? I looked back at Ceil and she had one of the dumbest looks on her face. I roll my eyes and look back at the girl, Ceil obviously had no idea what was going on. I shake my head and glance back to Mirai. Her hands have stopped moving.

‘Do you understand me?’ Mirai didn’t respond. I guess that’s a no. She began moving her hands again at a slow pace. _Who...are...you?_ I think that’s what she said, her gestures are a little funny. I don’t really want to deal with this but Ceil is hopeless at sign language. I tell her to wait and she looked surprised? It’s a little hard to tell, she doesn’t emote much. I turn to Ceil again, she looks as dumbfounded as before.

‘She’s using sign language.’

‘Sign Language?’ I nod my head and Ceil looks thoughtful for a moment.

‘Do you know sign language?’ I nod my head again and Ceil looks confused.

‘When did you learn that?’

‘When you left.’ Ceil goes quiet after that. It stays quiet for a little bit until Ceil speaks up again.

‘Well, I don’t know… uh, hand speak so you need to talk to her.’

‘First of all, it’s sign language, and second of all I don’t want to talk to her.’ Ceil looks shocked for a moment.

‘That’s kind of mean. The kid’s been through a lot.’ I cross my arms in front of me. 

‘I’ll translate but that’s all. You can talk to her.’ Ceil thinks for a moment seemingly wanting to argue before nodding her head.

‘Okay then! Tell her I say hi!’ I turn to Mirai and wave my hand to her. She waves back in return. 

_‘Who are you?’_  

_‘This is Ceil and I am Haskell.’_ I fingerspell our names to her and she tries it out herself.

_‘Okay. Why am I here?’_ I turn to Ceil and she contemplates for a moment. 

‘Uh, we saved you from your little cave. Tell her that.’ I nod my head and sign again.

_‘You know the cave you were in? We took you from it.’_ Mirai looks puzzled.

_‘I don’t understand what you said.’_ I mentally sigh. This is just great, she doesn’t speak and doesn’t know much sign language obviously. What a bother. I turn to Ceil once more.

‘She doesn’t understand enough to hold a conversation.’ Ceil has a frown on her face now.

‘Maybe she can read?’ I stare at her. It’s worth a shot but I doubt it. I mean, our lives just have to be really difficult. I pull a pen out of my pocket and grab a sheet of paper off the desk in the room. I write down a hello and give it to her. She turns her head comically again and shakes her head. Great, she can’t read. How old is this girl anyway? I turn to Mirai and ask.

_‘How old are you?’_

_‘I do not know’_

I sigh and Ceil looks at me with a soft smile.

‘So, she can’t read. I guess we’ll just have to ask Kinume for help!” I don’t get it. She’s mentioned this girl forever and I have not seen her once. Is she delusional from her time away? I’ve played along for long enough.

‘Who’s Kinume? I’ve asked you before but you didn’t answer.’ Ceil frowns once more and also turns her head to the side.

‘What do you mean? She’s been here the whole time. This is her house!’

‘Ceil, I haven’t seen this girl once! You’ve just been dragging me on this little adventure on your own. I don’t know how you know about any of this stuff but it’s weirding me out and I want the truth!’ Ceil goes quiet. Her face begins draining of colour, it goes as pale as a sheet. 

‘Haskell this isn’t funny. I swear I can see this girl, I can even describe her! She has brown to green hair with a purple dress on. Her face is pale and she has blue eyes!’ Ceil looks nervous now. Why is she continuing this? Is she actually being serious?

‘I haven’t ever seen this girl. Not once, I’m not joking.’ Ceil begins to sweat, twisting her hands around in her lap, an old habit from years ago.

‘Ask Mirai! She might’ve seen her!’ I turn to Mirai doubtfully. I would’ve seen this girl.

_‘How many people have you seen in this house?’_ Mirai looks confused again but seems to have gotten a little of the message.

_‘This house...how many people?’_

_‘Yes.’_

_‘Three. Ceil, Haskell and Mirai.’_ I rest my case. I turn back to Ceil.

‘She’s only seen us three in the house. She would’ve seen this girl on her way up here!’ Ceil looks like she’s going to cry. Her breath is picking up and she manages to turn even paler-somehow. Something is very wrong and I don’t think it’s going to get any better.

‘Oh my god. I’m seeing people. I’ve officially lost it! There’s no going back for me hahahahaha’ She begins to laugh hysterically, tears streaming down her pale face as she paces back and forth. Hands flying everywhere as if giving her words more momentum.

‘This can’t be happening! I’ve gone through all this shit only to be seeing people! Can’t I catch a break?! What did I do to deserve this?!’ Ceil crouches into a ball and pulls her hair harshly. I walk over to her, keeping my face calm.

‘Ceil, you need to take a deep breath…’

‘GET AWAY FROM ME! YOU AREN’T REAL!’ I flinch back at the remark.

‘Ceil, please. I am real-’

‘WHAT ARE YOU?! Why can I see you?! Just leave me alone?!’ Ceil screams at the top of her lungs things are officially going from bad to worse very quickly. I don’t know what to do. Ceil continues shouting at nothingness, strongly flinching whenever I try to touch her. I continue to think when something grasps my shoulder. I turn in alarm only to see Mirai before me.

_‘What is wrong?’_ I don’t have time for this!

_‘Not now.’_ Thankfully Mirai nods and steps back once again, simply observing my sister tearing herself to shreds. Suddenly Ceil stops. She freezes in uh...shock perhaps? It’s quiet before she starts heavily sobbing again. Why was this happening? What is happening?


	8. final form with a side of cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> major fudging gore warning guys, i wish u well-dragon

Ceil’s POV

‘Ceil listen to me.’ Kinume stands before me. She’s still smiling but it looks broken and hurt.

‘I died. In the facility, you were also in. I don’t know why I’m here or why you can see me. But I need you to help me help Mirai. Please.’ I stare at her unable to comprehend any of this. I can see ghosts?! WTF?! That can’t be possible! I’m going insane!

‘You’re not real.’ Kinume shakes her head.

‘No I’m not, but I once was. Ask Mirai, she knows my name in sign language.’ She shows me a couple of gestures which I assume mean her name. I turn weakly to face Mirai. I shakily bring my hands up, why won’t they stop shaking?

‘Kinume’ Mirai’s eyes widen a fraction. She makes a sign with her hands but I don’t understand it at all. Haskell looks between us.

‘She’s asking how you know that.’ I glance at Haskell, I feel too exhausted to be doing anything. 

‘Why does she want to know?’ Haskell turns once more to Mirai and begins doing their hand thingy. I don’t even care right now, all I want is to reset today and never mention Kinume again. Haskell turns back to me.

‘She says that Kinume died.’ I flinch, hard. I look back to Kinume and she’s still standing there with that same stupid smile but so many things were so very, very, different. She looked a mess. Her once barely wavy hair was tangled like a birds nest. Flecks of red streaked throughout it. Her hair covered her left eye, heavy streams of blood flowing from beneath. The once light blue eye has turned to a dull grey, filled with exhaustion and despair. She was wearing a terribly ripped hospital gown, there’s something wrong with her-ohmygodhergutsarespillingouteverywhereand

I immediately turn to throw up. Haskell rushes over to my side and starts patting me on the back. I didn’t really feel it though, my mind racing with what I just saw. What the hell was that?! I turn back to Kinume expecting the gruesome sight again but she’s turned around, wearing her previous purple dress again. She turns to face me once more.

‘I’m so sorry Ceil. I didn’t mean for you to see that at all…’ She looks remorseful at least. 

‘Why did that happen? What was that?’ She remains quiet, a silent frown resting upon her face. One I’ve never seen before.

‘That’s how I looked when I died. It happens when I feel unstable or overly unsure. I was hoping you wouldn’t turn around…’ She looks away from me looking guiltily at the floor.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you and your family. But I know you’re looking after Mirai now so I can finally move on after all these years…’ She looks to me once more, another smile replacing the frown.

‘I know I’m asking a lot but I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it.’ She looks towards Mirai once more. 

‘And yet...despite feeling this I haven’t moved on yet. Why can’t I just leave you be?’ Her brows creased in frustration. 

‘Ceil!’ I jolt. Haskell’s sharp yell reminding me of my surroundings once more. I turn to Them. They look visibly upset. Holding back tears, face tight and flushed. 

‘Can you hear me?’ I nod my head.

‘Finally. Are you feeling better now?’ I nod once more, my throat sore from all the bile I had thrown up. I peer at Mirai who is standing behind Haskell. I expected her to be traumatised or something but no, she had the same blank look on her face still. I guess she’s already been traumatised enough.

‘Are you alright Mirai?’ She doesn’t respond and Haskell smacks me upside the head, I rub my head absentmindedly, I guess They were pretty annoyed with me.

‘She doesn’t understand you.’ I open my mouth to speak but Haskell forcefully pulls me into a hug. 

‘Wha-’

‘Don’t do that! I was really scared!’ Haskell yells into my shoulder, muffling their words but I still understood what They said. I simply hug her back and wait for their breathing to even out once more. 

‘Ceil.’ I look towards Kinume.

‘I think you should spend time with Haskell today. Mirai’s problems can wait a little while. I need time to think of a solution to your communication problem.’ 

‘Yours or Mirai’s?’ I tilt my head to the side. Kinume gives a soft giggle.

‘Mirai’s. There’s not much we can do about my communication with you. I suppose we’ll just have to accept things as they are. You should tell Haskell that only you can see me so when you’re talking to me it isn’t so strange.’ I go to give my opinion when I hear footsteps. Mirai has turned to walk out of the room when she slams into has the doorway. I wince in empathetic pain and Haskell turns away from my shoulder to see what happened. Mirai stumbles back into the other side of the door and sinks to the floor. I gently push Haskell off me and rush over to kneel before Mirai. I grab and turn her head to look for injuries, a little more forcefully that I had originally intended.

‘Are you hurt?’ Then I groan. Right, she can’t understand me. This is getting annoying fast. She then brings her hands up and begins speaking hands.

‘She says that she’s okay.’ I see Haskell in the corner of my eye, I guess she asked for me. I smile my thanks to her and stand back up. I offer my hand to her and she just stares at it. She looks towards Haskell then back to me and places her tiny hand in mine. I pull her to her feet but she doesn’t let go of my hand. I look towards Haskell.

‘What is she doing?’

‘Dunno, I’ll ask.’ Haskell turns slightly towards Mirai and flip flops her hands around in a kind of fascinating pattern. 

‘She says you’re warm.’ Me? Warm? Perish the thought! I must feel like ice! Like my heart a soul- holy shit balls look there’s a dog!! Omg her is so cute! I finally notice that Mirai’s hand is more like ice actually. It’s freezing yet she’s not shaking. That’s not a good thing. Right? I frown in concern and turn towards Kinume, all the while shredding my jumper and putting it over her small frame.

‘Don’t worry too much Ceil. She’s on her way to healing thanks to Haskell.’ Say what? I give her a confused look but she does a tiny shrug.

‘Mirai is far from your average human being. That gem she wears around her neck is actually her ‘soul’. He was trying to make someone immortal. He then found out that people had ‘essences’ which were like what we would call as ‘soul’. He then removed it and placed into a physical object which is that gem on her necklace. But by doing this she seemingly lost her capacity of emotions and is usually a blank slate. She’s also missing sight in her left eye. It’s long and complicated and I don’t understand much of it, but I do know this, she is traumatized and needs help getting back to the way she was before. But anyway, that’s a ‘simplified’ version. Anyways, earlier when Haskell touched her, her soul glowed and I assume Mirai is using Haskell’s body to try and heal itself.’ 

Wow, that was a lot of information to take in. What bullcrap is this? I know he was capable of some pretty ‘incredible’ stuff but creating immortal people?! This is insane! What was wrong with that guy?! Jeez, Louise, why can I not catch a break?

I sigh and look back down at the small child, shifting toward her and begin walking, taking her with me towards my room. I pause for a second and glance to my left at Kinume and ask her, ‘Is there a bigger bed we could sleep in?’ She nods and gestures to follow her. 

‘Why do you ask? Both you and Haskell fit just fine in that other bed right?’ She speaks as we walk down the long hallway. Maybe it’s because I know she’s a ghost now that I notice I can’t hear her footsteps creak on the floor.

‘Well yeah, but the kids not gonna sleep by herself, so bigger bed for more people.’ Kinume looks shocked for a moment but then returns to her soft smile.

‘Ah right.’ The smile on her face grew in delight, trying to convey some unsaid words but right now I don’t want any of it. I shrug my shoulders and look back down to the kid, before sighing softly and following Kinume to a room two doors to the left. I watch led silently as she walks right through the door not even bothered a bit. I shakily open the door and see a huge bed the size of two doubles squished together, an abundance of pillows littering the bed everything was hidden in a calming blue cover. 

I walk over to the bed pulling Mirai with me. Haskell trails behind me, so close that I could feel their breath softly on my neck. 

I turn to Haskell once I reach the bed and ask Them 

‘Can you ask if I am able to pick her up,’ I tilted my head in the direction of Mirai. Haskell simply nods before signing to Mirai. Once she replies, Haskell nods to me, I take that as a yes and pick Mirai up and sit her in the bed. I gently remove her shoes but leave her socks on, she is cold enough as it is. I tuck the kid in nice and tight before hopping in aswell and gesturing for Haskell to hop in next to me so I’m squished in the middle. A movement catches my eye and I swivel my head sharply and stare, I see Kinume smiling gently while hovering just slightly over the bed on the other side of Mirai, Kinume is on her side almost as if she would be cuddling into Mirai, you know if she was solid. 

As I let my head hit the pillow and stare at the roof I feel Haskell’s arms snake around my waist holding me tight, at the same time Mirai snuggles closer into my side, and I curl my arm around her. We all fall into dreamless nights of sleep. 


	9. cooking mama 3!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what fun this will beeeee :)-dragon

Ceil’s POV 

‘Ceil...Ceil...Ceil!’ I groan and turn over. 

‘Ceil you guys need to eat!’ I strain to open my eyes to see who was disturbing my much-needed nap time. Kinume hovered over me with a sorrowful smile. 

‘It’s time to get up I’m sorry.’

‘Ugh...don’t sound very sorry.’ She giggles in response as I struggle to worm out of the bed. Haskell and Mirai are still sleeping apparently. I clamber over Mirai, cursing when I fall straight onto the floor.

‘Not quite awake are we?’ I raise an eyebrow at her.

‘Ya think?’ She giggles again and walks out of the room. I finally manage to stand and go after her. Now that I’m functioning like a normal human being questions begin swarming my head. It was hard to focus on Them and I just wanted to flat out reject other ones.

‘Do you know how to cook?’ Kinume is ahead of me, her head turned back to face me.

‘Of course, I do! Anyone can cook, the real question is if they can cook and not kill someone with food poisoning!’ Kinume slows her pace to ‘walk’ beside me down the stairs.

“Haha, yes I suppose you’re right. Can you cook without giving someone food poisoning?’ I fake a pondering face for a moment.

‘It depends on what I’m making.’ Kinume hums as we step into the kitchen. It’s spacious with a counter to close it off from the living room...wait. Is it a living room if Kinume is in there? So many questions and meme references fly throughout my head as I contemplate the meaning of life. Kinume is giving me a look when I finally snap out of my stupor and I just rub the back of my head with a guilty smile. She shakes her slowly and sighs.

‘You’re free to use anything here that you like. But you’ll need to buy groceries, everything in here will be off.’ Of course, it is. That’s just fine, I needed some air anyways. 

‘You wanna come with?’ Kinume’s eyes widen for a moment then shakes her head.

‘Someone needs to watch over the children.’ I ponder for a moment then grinned. I go upstairs to grab a pen and some paper. Kinume hovers over my shoulder to look at what I’m doing. I write down ‘Going shopping be back soon! <3’ I show my ingenious work to Kinume and she gives me a look.

‘What? It’s not like they’re gonna disappear or anything!’ Kinume’s smile drops for a moment.

‘I have a suspicion that they shouldn’t be left alone…’

‘Nonsense! Now come along!’ I reach for Kinume’s hand to drag her along but I just go right through it. There’s a tense silence in the air until Kinume speaks up.

‘Alrighty then. We’ll go but no longer than 10 minutes.’

‘Yeah, yeah. We’ll only be like 5 minutes!’ Famous last words for a reason!

~2 Hours Later~

‘Oh my god, they were roommates Kinume!’ I have my earphones plugged in so I don’t look completely insane talking to her. Kinume sighs anxiously.

‘Ceil, we’ve been here for at least an hour and haven’t gotten a single thing from the list! You need to decide what we need to get!’ Worrywart…

‘Don’t worry so much! I doubt it’s been that long!’ I look at my phone only to realise we’ve been out for two hours. Two things come to my mind, One. Haskell was a major pyromaniac and goes a little crazy if I’m gone for too long.

‘Aaand two, I fucked up.’ Kinume stares at me. She probably wasn’t expecting that. I begin frantically running around grabbing anything and everything. Kinume is probably scolding me for not paying attention but I don’t care. I chuck everything onto the self serve and the lady who works there gasps. I begin scanning and I probably scan the same thing at least 5 times but I couldn’t care right now. I pay the machine and run out of the store back towards the house. I kick open the door as Kinume shouts for me to slow down behind me. 

‘Haskell! Are you dead?!’ The house is quiet and no one responds to me. I drop my groceries onto the floor and begin searching the house. They weren’t on the first floor so I run up the stairs and begin to open doors. I begin thinking the worse when I open the door to our shared room. Haskell and Mirai are sitting on the floor both have earphones in. They’re leaning over a sheet of paper and moving their hands. I take a big breath in and release, making myself a little dizzy. 

‘There you are. I swear you’re going to kill me!’ I walk up to Them and tap their shoulders. Haskell whirls around while Mirai continues to move her hands around in gestures. Haskell removes the earphones from their ears.

‘I didn’t hear you come in.’ 

‘Obviously. How loud is your music?’ 

‘Uh…’ Now that I’m paying attention I can hear sounds blaring from Haskell’s earphones. I raise an eyebrow at Them and They just shrug. It’s a wonder how They’re NOT deaf yet. 

‘So...spending time with the resident cinnamon bun are we?’ They flush for a moment and turn around.

‘It’s inconvenient if she doesn’t know how to talk. I was just helping her.’ I laugh, she gets so defensive sometimes.

‘Don’t use your fancy words on me. I know you like her. Deep down in the black heart of yours.’ They smile and lightly smack me on the arm. 

“Ow! OH HOW YOU WOUND ME!’ I collapse to the floor in an exaggerated manner, hand pressed elegantly against my head. They just roll their eyes and sigh. 

‘Is food ready?’ I blink. Oh yeah, that’s what I was doing. I stand up and walk out the door hearing Haskell mumbling something to Themselves. I walk back down the stairs towards the kitchen where Kinume is looking rather dumbfounded. 

‘What’s up?’ Kinume looks at me.

‘Do you even know what you bought?’ I think for a moment then shake my head. Kinume just shakes her head at me and gestures for me to take a look. There’s a random assortment of foods in the bags. What the heck was I supposed to make with all this crap?! Oh, wait! This is it! My time to show my culinary abilities and show my stuff! 

‘Well, I do have an idea what we could do...but it’s going to get messy.’ Kinume looks unsure for a moment.

‘Well, I can’t really stop you so I suppose we should start.’

‘Atta girl!’

So we may or may not have almost blown up the kitchen, drowned in a sink, touched a stove while it was still on, get stuck in an oven, make biscuits out of salt instead of sugar, got absolutely covered in random ingredients and somehow make something edible after it all. 

‘Welp, this turned out well in my opinion!’ I take a positive turn on things.

‘I thought I was going to give myself a heart attack because of you.’

‘But you’re already dead!’ Kinume goes quiet. Uh oh…

‘Too soon?’ She shakes her head and starts laughing.

‘I hadn’t even realised that!’ She laughs harder, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. I start laughing as well, I taste flour in my mouth and start gagging. Kinume only laughs harder at my dilemma. 

‘Help me! *Cough* *Cough*’ She is kneeling by this point.

‘I-I ca-can’t!’ She only laughs harder, tears of joy streaming down her face. Warmth fills throughout me and I start laughing as hard as she is.

‘Ceil!’ I whip around, immediately stopping laughing as I see demonic aura surrounding Haskell. She looks appalled at the mess I’m in. 

‘Clean this mess up!’ I whip around and grab a tray off the counter.

‘BUT BETHANY I MADE BISCUITS!’ Haskell smacks the tray out of my hand.

‘I know you put salt in Them! You can’t bake for crap!’ I gasp and press a hand against my chest.

‘How dare thee criticise my expertise!’ Haskell rolls their eyes.

‘By the way, the food’s ready!’ I say gesturing towards the food I so masterfully made. Mirai appears behind from Haskell looking around at the mess. Haskell’s foot begins tapping rapidly against the floor.

‘Fine, food first then we’re cleaning this up!’ 

‘Thanks for helping!’ Haskell huffs and sits at the table. Mirai follows but doesn’t sit down until Haskell signs to Them.

‘You should eat.’ Kinume speaks up behind me. I nod and walk towards the table.

‘FOOOOD!’ And with that everyone began eating although Mirai and I didn’t eat too much. 

Afterwards was fun cleaning time and we sorta only made a bigger mess than what we started with but we ended up finishing...I think? 


	10. trust no one, but trust us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> really trust us, we know best..... sometimes-dragon

 

Ceil’s POV

Good things can only last so long I guess...I’m very much regretting my life choices.

‘Ceil, please stop hitting your chin and wave your hand like a normal person.’ 

‘There is no such thing as normal.’ Kinume shakes her head then waves her hand side to side, the sign for hello. I start copying her only to hit my chin on accident again. Kinume sighs.

‘Maybe you have a head injury from your time in the facility.’

‘That’s mean. Are you calling me dumb?’

‘Not dumb, just handicapped.’ I leap to my feet.

‘YOU MADE A PUN!’ I point at her, joy covering my face. Kinume’s mouth hangs open and her face flushes.

‘I-I didn’t mean to!’

‘I’ve taught you well young PUN-awan!’ I make my hands into finger guns and fire away. She looks confused. Probably didn’t get it.

‘Let’s continue. You can’t talk to Mirai if you don’t know sign language.’ I sit back down again.

‘Are we still doing hello?’

‘No. We’ll move on to something else. We can come back to that.’ I’ve spent about 1 and a half hours now trying to learn this. Why do hands have to be complicated? To be fair I was doing well for 30 minutes then we went back to trying to sign hello. It’s been an hour since then and no progress. Maybe something IS wrong with me. What are you talking about of course there’s something wrong with you! Shut up with your facts Ceil! No, you shut up! No! 

‘Ceil?’ I whip my head around and see Haskell standing in the doorway. Mirai is standing behind Them, peeking from behind their waist. 

‘Uh…’ I try to sign hello but hit my chin FOR THE 1897347th TIME!

‘Why are you calling me a bitch?’ I whip around to Kinume.

‘THAT’S what that means?’ She nods her head and I turn back to Haskell.

‘Sorry Haskell I didn’t know haha I think I’m physically incapable of waving my hand side to side.’  Haskell sighed heavily turning to Mirai and flicking her hands quickly but I picked up a few words like speak and out and ceil… or maybe the words could have been, sneak pout and seal but idk I’m not good at this shit. 

I look at kinume for guidance but she just shakes her head and floats to the door falling in ‘step’ with a retreating Mirai. Haskell still stands with their arms crossed in front of their chest.

‘We need to talk’ 

‘I don’t like talking.’

‘Well, that’s too bad. You have a lot of explaining to do.’

‘You can’t handle the truth.’ She walks up to me and stands firm.

‘No more jokes! Enough with the kid gloves! I’m an adult to and I deserve to know what the hell is going on!.’

‘Well, technically you’re only-’

‘Stop stalling!’

‘...’

‘Thank you. Now first question-’

‘Pass’

‘You can’t pass.’

‘Shit, really’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh, man fine what's the question then. Let’s get this over with.’ i sigh heavily and sink down in my seat even lower than before ready for a long talk. 

‘Let’s start simple, why did you leave and why did you choose now to come back.’ haskell leans forward in anticipation waiting for the response. I bitch and moan for a bit about that question not being simple, and that technically that was two questions, not one. 

‘i was tricked into going and was basically kidnapped so not my fault. And to answer the other question tbh idk how I got out...I just did.’ I reply shrugging, feeling really uncomfortable in my current position. Haskell sighs

‘First of all, did you really just say TBH and idk about loud? And second of all what about another question… um, let’s start with… who kinume is.’ 

‘You know what I actually don’t know, haven't got around to asking really coz you know I've been doing… stuff. Yeah, stuff’ Haskell scoffed at my reply sitting back into her seat,

‘Yeah stuff right, like avoiding me? Like not explaining anything? I mean come on that’s textbook avoidance right there, and then there was this morning when I woke up and you weren’t in bed and, and you’re scary sometimes you know you just look into the air and just blank out then getting really angry and storming off. And when you couldn’t find me you just pulled this whole house apart looking for me! That’s something I should be doing, I’m the one with separation problems, so tell me why! Why are you like this?’ Haskell’s shouted hands flailing and chest heaving. She fell back in her seat as she had gotten up during her little impromptu speech. I sunk even lower in my seat, wanting to get away from this conversation. I take a deep breath and reply, 

‘Okay yea I have been avoiding certain things, but I have my reasons okay! I have been traumatised in ways you wouldn’t understand! Things are different now and I wish, oh god has no idea how much I wish things were back to normal. But things are different now, whether we like it or not. I can’t change how stupid and gullible I was three years ago! But I can change from now on. But you have to understand that I’m not gonna just be just like I was and I’ll just talk about everything. Because I won’t.  Maybe in the future, I’ll talk but I don’t want to burden you with my problems you have your own problems and you don’t need to be weighed down with mine. As much as I love you too much to do that to you, Haskell.’ Jeez, today is full of impromptu speeches. My eyes finally found Haskell’s. ‘Please. it’s too soon to talk about it.’ I plead hoping she will agree with me for once. 

‘You know what fine. But just tell me one thing.’ Haskell gives. 

‘Alrighty, what is it?’ I move back in my seat until my butt hits the back of the chair so I’m sitting up nice and tall ready to answer her question.

‘Tell me who kinume is.’ 

‘To be completely honest I don’t know. Okay, l. She just kinda showed up after work a few days ago and she showed me-us where Mirai was, and this is her house, maybe I think.’ At Haskell’s blank look I ask, ‘Would you like me to describe her for you? Coz I can call her in and describe her.’ Haskell shakes her head and sighs.

‘Nah it’s okay, I’m just glad you being honest with me.’

I wasn’t. I had seen Kinume before...before she was a ghost.


	11. she protec, she attac but most importantly she bitch slap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> plot is relevant, plot is hard im not sorry, also GORE WARNING plz watch out - dragon

~Flashback Time~

Ceil’s POV

_It’s dark and cold and gloomy and I’m trapped and- the door begins to creak open once again. You’d think they could at least oil the damn thing but no. Typical kidnappers._

_‘Ceil~ It’s time for your appointment. You’ll be a brave girl again won’t you?’ I don’t want to go please don’t make me go. I stand despite my inner protests and walk towards him. How can one man be capable of so many terrible things? We walk into the cold hallway until we turn into an unfamiliar hallway...or at least I think it’s unfamiliar. I can’t tell anymore they all look the fucking same now._

_‘Now then. I’m going to let you wander these halls and experience wonders beyond your imagination!’ He does a mini twirl and leans closer to my ear._

_‘I’m going to break whatever tiny part of sanity and innocence you have left.’ He turns a walks out the door with a flourish and shuts it behind him. I walk to the door and try the knob. Locked. Typical. I turn into the never-ending darkness that is my soul-hall I meant the hall. I begin to wander down, steeling myself for whatever could be down here...but nothing happens. It remains the same no matter how many painful, cautious steps I take. Until I reach the end of the hallway. A putrid smell infects my nose and I would’ve gagged if I wasn’t so used to it by now. Whatever is down here is probably worse than catastrophic. I clench my fist and continue forward, they won’t let me out if I don’t go. I could die in here and they probably wouldn’t care._

_I wasn’t ready in the slightest for what I saw. At the end of the hall, there was a flickering light._

_On, off, on, off onoffonoffonoffonoffonoff. I slap myself. Focus Ceil! I look up and there’s...a body. Mangled beyond anything else. I think it’s a girl...or a guy with long hair. I’m gonna go with girl. Her insides are now her outsides and they’re all over the place. I start to quiver and almost buckle. My foot squishes something beneath me and I look down to see her intestines under my shoe. Next to it an eye stares up at me. I scream and fall right into more of the mess. Red covers all of over me...sticky, hot...it’s the warmest I’ve felt in ages and that disgusts me. Ineedtogetoutgetoutgetoutoutoutout._

_‘Enjoyed the view?’ I look up and see his face staring down at me. He reaches his hand down to grab me and-_

I open my eyes to see him sitting above me. I scream and slap the absolute shit out of him. He flew back farther than anyone should be able to. I scramble away and drag Haskell down to the floor with me. They go down with a yelp and turn to face me.

‘The fuck are you doing?!’ I slap my hand around her mouth.

‘Shut up! We need to go! He’s here!!!’ I grab their wrist and forcibly yank Them up to their feet. I go around the bed only to find Mirai on the floor, a hand to their cheek...what? Haskell rips their wrist from my grip and goes over to Mirai. Checking her over obviously. I can’t move...what have I done? She looked just like him...the same pink eyes. Okay now that I’m thinking it that sounds really anticlimactic but that’s beside the point. 

‘What were you thinking?’ I refocus back on Haskell. Mirai’s face is lifted up by Haskell’s hand. The whole right portion of her face beginning to swell and darken with ugly colours. I rush over towards her as well and kneel down beside her. She doesn’t react...she might be in shock...ooooor she’s just being her usual, unemotional self. She begins to shakily lift her hands and begin signing. 

‘Why did that happen?’ I jolt and turn to see Kinume standing behind me. Mirai stares at me. Haskell turns to face me as well.

‘She asked why you did that and it's not just her that wants to know Ceil.’ haskells voice strong and demanding.

 

 I pause for a moment before stuttering out a response,

‘I-I don’t know. Well...I do! But...it’s hard to explain without you being mad at me?’ I drifted off towards the end and it sort of came out as a question rather than a statement. Haskell didn’t look very pleased. 

‘I’m going to be more mad if you don’t start talking.’ Of course she will be.

‘Well...I had a nightmare and Mirai scared me.’ 

‘So you slapped her?’

‘It was in defence!’

‘You haven’t even apologised yet!’

‘It’s not my fault she scared me!’

‘You didn’t have to hit her!’

‘Well-’

‘Ceil.’ I pause when Kinume’s voice cuts through my thoughts. She’s kneeling next to me and gently shaking her head.

‘You need to stop arguing with each other.’ I stay silent for a moment then turn to Haskell once more.

‘I’m sorry...can you tell her that for me?’

‘Why don’t you tell her yourself?’

‘Please Haskell. I need a moment.’ They looked ready to protest but They seemed to notice something so They stopped, Mirai grabbed Their shirt and pulled Them towards the door. Both of them disappear and the door shuts with a creak leaving me in the dark. I hug myself, looking for some form of comfort. Tears begin spilling over my cheeks, I didn’t want to cry but I couldn’t help it. Why couldn’t things just stay the same? Why did I have to ruin everything again? I felt something ghost my shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. I turn around to see Kinume standing behind me, her hand on my shoulder...I couldn’t feel it.

‘It’s going to be alright. You’ve gone through so much already, you need to hold out a little longer…’

‘Why?! Haven’t I been through enough?! I can’t take this! I-I just...is it so wrong to not want anymore pain?’ I didn’t know anymore, I turn to face Kinume. A broken look is probably on my face right now.

‘Am I selfish?’ Kinume doesn’t answer.

‘Is this wrong?’ She remains quiet.

‘Why won’t you answer me?’ …

‘Am I that bad?’ Silence. Why won’t she help me?

‘Do you hate me?’ She doesn’t move an inch. I feel rage growing and festering deep inside me. Does she think that I’m so bad?! Why is she ignoring me now?! I stand and face her. Unable to think clearly, clouded by my intense emotions.

‘You didn’t help me! You’re part of the reason I have to go through this right now! It’s your fault! You were there to and didn’t do anything! It’s...it’s all…’ I trail off, the fog in my head clearing once more. The words settle into the air and it dawns on me what I said. 

‘I-I...Kinume I’m so sorr-’ She lifts a hand into the air.

‘Stop. Don’t apologise.’ 

‘What?’

‘Never apologise for how you feel.’ What is she talking about?

‘I don’t feel that way! I was just angry and upset and stupid and-’

‘That’s how you feel.’ I pause, shocked.

‘Your words may not have been the kindest but it’s still how you feel.’

‘That doesn’t make this okay.’

‘No it doesn’t.’

‘Then why won’t you let me apologise?’

‘Because you need to learn.’

‘Learn what?’

‘That when you bottle things up they’ll explode. Once you say what you say you can’t take it back.’ Kinume smiles at me.

‘You’ve lived a hard life without rest. Your feelings are justified. To answer your earlier questions…’ Kinume walks closer to me, her hands interlocked in front of her.

‘I do think you’re selfish, but all humans are. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to protect yourself and not wanting to be hurt. You’re not bad, just not the best. You’re broken but that can be fixed...it can always be fixed. I don’t and never could hate you, even if I wanted to. We can work together, this will take time and patience but we’ll get there.’ Her hand moves forward and grasps mine even though I don’t feel anything except a numbing cold. She gently smiles at me and a pleasant feeling flows throughout me. Even so...this terrible guilt festers, unrelenting.

‘Not everything can be fixed…’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘You’re gone and I can’t try and fix that.’ Kinume pauses and her eyes leave mine.

‘Why does that matter?’ Why does it matter? Why is this so important to me?

‘Because no one remembers you and only I can see you. I want to help you!’ I begin flailing my hands around. Kinume shakes her head.

‘The best way to help me is to help yourself.’ I stay quiet at that.

‘You need to talk to Haskell. I understand that you’re scared but they are too.’ 

‘I don’t want to put that on them.’ Kinume pauses, thinking for a moment.

‘How old is Haskell?’

‘17 this year.’

‘They aren’t a child anymore. They can handle the truth, in order to help you. You need to help them help you.’ 

‘But...but they’re still my younger sibling. I don’t…’ 

‘Think about this Ceil. What’s most important?’

‘Most important?’ What IS most important to me? A determination sets within me.

‘Helping you is important to me! Helping everyone in my family! We’ll all be a happy family even if I’m the only one who can see you!’ Kinume jolts for a moment as I whirl around to face her.

‘We’ll fix everything!’ My arms spread out wide, my face unable to contain a blinding smile. Kinume giggles and covers her face with her hand.

‘I see. I look forward to that.’ I turn to face the door and grasp the handle. I swing it open and am about to take my first steps into a new life when I see Haskell right in front of me. Oh shit. They have their arms crossed in front of them. Oh boy…. I begin speaking.

‘Uh...Welcome to Chiles!’


	12. ~Halloween Special~ Spoopy Scary Skeletons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Bibble here and here’s a special Halloween chapter for you! This is set in a time where Kinume isn’t a spooky ghost and they’ve all lived together for a while! This story will mainly focus on Haskell and Mirai since I feel like they’ve been a bit underrated recently haha. Anyways...Happy Halloween!!

**Haskell’s POV**

**Halloween sucks. It’s stupid and pointless. The only good thing about it is that it’s easier to play pranks on other people but who wants to get high on sugar and be sick non-stop the next day. Not to mention there are a bunch of strangers roaming the streets knocking on other people’s doors, doesn’t anyone feel awkward by that?! It’s not like you do it any other day of the year. Apparently Ceil doesn’t care and she has this tradition of playing ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ every time. She thinks it’s a Christmas movie but I think it’s a Halloween movie so there’s always that discussion. Ceil has already kidnapped Kinume and whisked her off to who knows where... poor girl I feel bad. She’s still recovering and Ceil is already off her nuts with anyways. I cross my arms over my chest and huff. This is pointless. I feel a tug on my jacket and look down.**

**‘Skell?’ Mirai is clinging to my jumper. She looks confused about everyone bustling about and the stacks of lollies, candies or whatever Ceil has bought.**

**‘Wh-what’s happening?’ I look down at her and point towards everyone in costumes.**

**‘This is a holiday. It’s called Halloween.’**

**‘Hello...weeen?’ I chuckle at her attempt.**

**‘No, Halloween.’ She pouts momentarily before speaking again.**

**‘Hall...Halloween.’ Her eyes sparkly as they look up at me. Surely Mirai doesn’t want to participate? She’s usually uncommitted to everything, only finding it interesting when it was challenging. I guess...this would be one of her first holidays. We’ve been so busy lately that Mirai hasn’t had the chance to ask any questions about the world outside of what she used to live in. I didn’t really think of that. Not to mention there are kids her age running about and she doesn’t have any friends.**

**‘Join?’ Mirai is still staring up at me but pointing her finger outside where everyone else mingles. Her eyes seem to glimmer and her jewel shines in the moonlight that’s beginning to appear. I sigh and nod my head. She actually gives a bright smile and does a jump on the spot. She’s pretty cute when she wants to be. Ceil brought everyone an outfit even though I said I didn’t want to join in. I grab her hand as we head upstairs. She goes into her room and I go into mine to see my costume. It looks like a weird witch’s costume with a broom to boot. Great...well it doesn’t seem too bad. I adjust my hat and grab my broom. I walk out my door to see Mirai waiting for me there. She seems to have a cat outfit with a cat style jumper and socks. She has a small smile as she looks at me up and down.**

**‘Look good.’ I give a little bow.**

**‘Why thank you. You look rather cute yourself.’ She bows back and smiles. She grabs my hand and urgently rushes me down the stairs, obviously eager to begin. I laugh and let her pull me alongside her. People flood the streets and as the night begins to take over the streetlights cast beams of light, enhancing the shadows of the various creatures roaming the night. It’s rather peaceful actually...minus the screams. Mirai has slowed down and walks beside me, looking rather lost. I grip her hand tighter and bring her towards a house. I demonstrate me knocking and gesture for her to do the same. She knocks on the door and a woman wearing a sheet or something pops out.**

**‘Well hello there!’ I quickly sign to Mirai.**

**_‘Say trick or treat.’_ ** **She nods at me.**

**‘Tri-twick or tweet!’ Her eyes sparkle once more despite her face being rather serious. The lady chuckles and gives her a handful of various sweets. She also gives me some.**

**‘Have a lovely night you two.’ I give a minor bow.**

**‘Thank you.’ She simply smiles and retreats inside. We walk back onto the street and I glance at Mirai. Her eyes are shimmering as she looks into her bag, that now has something in it. She looks up at me with the biggest smile.**

**‘Skell! Did! Did it!’ She shook the bag in front of me, eager for me to look inside. I pretend to be overly shocked at her accomplishment.**

**‘That’s amazing Mirai! And you did awesome for your first time!’ She smiles wider and hugs my waist. I almost fall back from the force but I force my broom down to regain my balance. I glance down at her, unused to the affection.**

**‘Mirai?’ She simply snuggles closer.**

**‘Thank you.’**

**‘Hm?’ I place my hand on her head and she looks up at me. A small stream of tears fall from her good eye and down her cheeks, but a smile is still present on her tiny face.**

**‘Thank you, Skell!’ I smile back at her and learn down. Bringing her into a proper hug and her face snuggles into my shoulder.**

**‘Anytime for you Mirai.’ She nods her head against my shoulder and we stay like that for a while. She eventually pulls back from me and grabs my hand. Pointing towards a different house. Her pure, childish excitement ends up infecting me as well and I ended up enjoying myself. I didn’t realise how precious she was to me, a little sister that I didn’t get to have. I’m going to protect her no matter what, well at least what I can protect her from. The night became darker as the moon rose higher. Mirai was against my chest as I carried her back to the house. She was sound asleep and tiny breaths escaped her at an even pace. I walk inside and skip past the living room where Kinume and Ceil were watching ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas.’ I placed her on her bed and kiss her forehead.**

**‘Goodnight Mirai. Sweet dreams.’ A smile graces her face and she rolls over. I walk outside the room and close the door quietly behind me. A content feeling settles through me and I feel a small smile on my face.**

**I guess Halloween isn’t so bad.**

**‘But it’s about Christmas!’**

**‘The characters are from Halloween!’**

**Maybe….**

**End Halloween Special**


	13. Half Truths, Here We Go!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gore fucking warning guys-dragon

‘Seriously?’ Well they smiled a bit at least. 

‘Haha I thought it was good.’They rolled their eyes at me. I take a big breath and ready myself.

‘I’m ready to talk.’ Their eyes widen.

‘What?’  

‘I want to talk about it.’ They look down.

‘You don’t have to...I’ve been pretty selfish recently.’ They absently rub their arm, obviously feeling guilty. I guess we’re both pretty messed up.

‘Psh, don’t worry about it. We were both being bitches but not the good kind like boss ass bitches, the bad kind like crazy girlfriend bitches .’ They give a raspy laugh, something is being held back.

‘I really do want to talk about it. You deserve to know.’I turn around and pull haskell through the door shutting it behind us. I let go of Haskells hand and move around the room picking up the bed covers that had fallen off the bed. After i delayed talking for about a good 5 minutes, I finally sat down and patted the spot next to me up near the head of the bed, leaning against the head of the bed. Haskell took the seat next to me, and turned to face me.

“So how do you want to do this? Do you want me to as questions or are you just gonna ramble?” They ask staring me in the eye. 

“Uh could you ask questions? Maybe? I don’t know how to start…” I reply fumbling my hands in my lap

“Yeah alright…. uh well how did everything start?” 

“Well you remember the day I went missing right?,” I wait for their nod before continuing, “Well a man asked to see me at work and I went to see him. I think he was wearing all black or something, he kind of looked like us so his story was believable. He said that he was our brother. I didn’t believe him so I went to lunch with him to have him explain everything. And he knew things that I know I didn’t tell anyone, things like my first Teddy’s name, and your favourite cats name and he was so believable, and he asked to drive me home, to come see you. He must have slipped something in my drink while we were talking because I only remember getting into the car and nothing else.” I ramble for a bit emotion building up behind my words becoming frustrated with my own stupidity.

“Wow… man that must have sucked,” Haskell awkwardly states. 

“Yeah, yeah it did. Anyway I woke up and I was strapped to… uh and bench, i think maybe, it's still a bit fuzzy. I think I was laying there for about 3 maybe 4 hours alone. I had given up trying to escape by the time he showed up. Not the man that kidnapped me, I actually never saw him again. No but this man-’ i cut myself off to take a deep breath and relax my tense hands, and continue, ‘ heh if you can call him that really he was like a giant monster that was in love with death. He talked for a while, had me gagged the whole time, then he took the gag off and I spat in his face and swore at him continuously it was pretty funny and probably the wrong thing to do because he started doing things to me. Nothing bad.. Yet...just small things like cuts on arms and big bruises that went purple instantly. You know the small stuff. Then I was chucked in a holding cell for…… uh I actually don't know how long it was, maybe two weeks or something. I had food but it only came in sparingly and trust me i tried to count the plate but sometimes they would come one after the other and sometimes they wouldn’t come for ages. I got into a routine though, so luckily I didn't go insane. It wasn't until, I think about 2 weeks maybe, that /he/ showed up again. He took me to this corridor and locked me in. he said i had to look, he needed me to see what would happen if i didn't cooperate with him. So I walked the length of the corridor before realizing that there were doors. So i tried them all, but only one was open. I walked in and saw the most disgusting thing in the world and I couldn't even do anything, and things were everywhere, and I tried the door, but it wouldn't open and i could escape and things got bigger and-’ i was cut off by Haskell hugging me. Only then i realised i was crying.

‘You don’t have to continue if its bad for you to remember.” 

‘No no I want to tell you, you really need to know,” I paused for a bit reorganising my thoughts, and took a deep breath before continuing,” after the whole hall thing /he/ visited me regularly. Food was still scarce and _he_ continually abused me, one time he put this metal neck thing on me and it had detachable features, and one of them was this fork like thing, another literally stuck pins into my mouth if I even spoke. This was just the beginning though. _He_ was just warming up. _He_ moved up the torture chain as my pain tolerance went up. Things from small slashes to sawing a leg off then using some doctor thing to put it back together.” I rolled up my pants showing her the surgical scars. “ he went all out man, once he realised what he could do there was no stopping him. After ages of going through this pain and suffering he gave me an out and it was a horrible way out. He said I can see you again, if and only if I, myself, physically remove something from the inside of my body. He gave me all the tools Haskell, and I really really _really_ wanted to see you again…,” I lifted my shirt to just above my belly button showing two giant scars Criss crossing over my stomach, “ so I got rid of my uterus. I carved my body up, physically held my uterus in my hand just to please this man so I could see you again. But he didn’t let me, he didn’t let me see you-“ my voice cracked as it rose almost to the point of yelling “ he made me a promise, but like the stupid idiot I am I didn’t read the fine print, because he just fucking showed me a picture of you as a baby, a fucking baby, I couldn’t even tell if it was you or not. He tricked me. That’s not even the worse part he left me without food or help for a long time I had to sow myself back together, and I was starving Haskell I was so hungry I couldn’t even think, it was just sitting there and I ate it I fucking ate it, like the sick bitch I am I ate it.” I clutched my stomach rocking back and forth. 

“What did you eat Ceil? What is so disgusting?” Haskell asked trying to get my attention, trying to make me look in their eyes, still rocking where I sat I looked up at them staring them in the eyes, without looking away I lifted my hand from its place around my ribs and slowly pointed. Haskell followed it with their eyes, I watched as their expression became horrified once she realised where I was pointing, 

 

Right at the big scar on my stomach.


	14. You Know, I Hate Emotions Sometimes

Now that I’m saying this all out loud, it’s blatantly obvious how fucked up this whole thing is. I can’t even look at their face right now. I think I’m going to throw up, this is so wrong on so many levels. My body couldn’t take it anymore. At least I managed to turn to the side so I didn’t throw up on them. A hand began to rub at my back as tears stung my eyes and flowed freely. I want it to stop, I can’t breathe. Please just stop. Why did I do this? This was such a terrible idea.

‘Ceil?’ That was Haskell’s voice. Practically sounding like static in the fog that is my mind. 

‘Ceil you need to breathe.’ Easier said than done, thank you very much. It won’t stop, I can’t get any air at all. My mind only continues to grow hazier as I go further down the hole that is oxygen deprivation.

‘Ceil please! You’re scaring me!’ I’m sorry Haskell but I just can’t. There’s no way I can deal with this right now. The sweet embrace of darkness seems much more comforting than reality at this point. Everything is leaving me now, I can barely hear anything. 

‘C..-C--Seal!’ Seal? Wait what? My momentary freak out pauses and the hand on my back freezes as well. Who said that? I attempt to lift my head and barely see peach coloured hair in my peripheral. There’s no way...was that Mirai?

‘Seal! Seal!’ Her voice is so broken and unused it almost hurts to listen. I don’t think she’s even pronouncing my name correctly. Another voice begins to flood my ears.

‘Ceil take a moment.’ Kinume’s voice rings like an echo throughout my head. 

‘Listen to me Ceil! It’s going to be okay!’ Haskell’s voice joins in as well.

‘Seal!’ Mirai’s voice begins as well. Air finally rushes into my lungs and I take giant gulps like a fish out of water. I probably look really stupid but I couldn’t give less of a shit right now. Silence floods throughout the room as I attempt to ‘compose’ myself. After I gather myself enough to be coherent I slowly turn my head towards all three of them. Despite my sudden exhaustion I build up enough strength to speak.

‘Thank you.’ God my voice is almost worse than Mirai’s. I feel extremely disgusting in all kinds of ways right now. The stench finally hits me and I begin to gag again. But nothing comes up and I doubt anything will. 

‘Let’s get you out of here.’ Haskell’s arm loop around me and begin to hoist me up. I all but collapse against them and I’m pretty glad I weigh like nothing. They still strain to hold me up as we begin to walk. We head into another room and towards the bathroom. Haskell lets me go for a moment to turn on the shower and they turn to me.

‘Are you good enough to have a shower?’

‘I don’t care how good I am, I’m having that shower.’ Haskell laughs in response and begins to walk out the room.

‘Just call if you need me, I’ll be right next door.’

‘Seal!’ Mirai pops up from behind the door. So she is saying my name wrong but if that’s not the cutest bloody thing I’ve ever heard than I don’t know what is. Haskell signs to her and she signs a ‘yes’ back as they both walk out.

I appreciate being alone but I don’t want to be lonely right now. I’m fucking terrified and I don’t know what to do at all. Before I can stop myself my breathing starts picking up and my legs begin to buckle. 

‘It’s okay Ceil.’ I jump about 10 feet in the air.

‘Oh, I’m sorry about that.’ Kinume has a sheepish smile on her and she stands (floats) in front of the door.

‘Were you going to watch me?!’ She looks immediately flushed and embarrassed.

‘Of course not! I was just making sure you were going to get in and be alright!

‘Pervert!’

‘I assure you I am not!’ Somehow her fade grew even more red and I began to laugh a bit. She seemed shocked but ended up joining in as well.

‘I know you’re not a pervert.’She only smiles at me.

‘I think you had best get cleaned up. They’re worried for you.’ Right...she phases through the door and leaves me to my business. I suppose I should get this over with. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was surprisingly refreshing and was worth the effort. But I still need to deal with all of this pressure I feel on my chest. For now though I think I’ll spend time with Haskell and Mirai. I walk out into the bedroom where Haskell and Mirai are sitting across from each other on the bed. Haskell is smiling brightly with Mirai constantly saying ‘Seal’ to seemingly no one. Oh that’s right. Mirai’s first word! 

‘You speak Mirai!’ I run over and jump onto the bed next to her, clutching her tightly as she begins to make noises of complaint. Haskell laughs in the background and Mirai stop squirming in my inescapable grip. I hold her at arm's length, a giant smile graces my face finally. She actually looks slightly confused at me and doesn’t say anything. I turn to Haskell and they instantly have a smile as well.

‘I was her first word!’

‘What do you mean you were? She’s saying Seal!’ Haskel continues to laugh and I huff.

‘She’s trying to say Ceil! And that’s good enough!’ Mirai simply looks between the two of us with a blank look on her face. I place me hands on my hips and turn to face her.

‘Come on, say it again!’ Mirai looks at me and suddenly a small smile graces her pale face.

‘Seal!’ Haskell and I simply stare at this pure child for a while. Mirai’s face turns back to blank while she stares at us in simple curiosity. Desperate to see her smile once more I begin flailing about.

‘No! Wait! Smile again for me! Please?’ Amongst my flailing I end up beginning to lose my balance as I feel myself fall forwards. I brace myself to hit the covers but on the way down I accidently smack Haskell right in their face. Silence envelops the room and even though I know I’m so dead I can’t help but burst out laughing. Haskell stirs in their anger before laughing just as hard as me. Mirai simply watches us as we roll about the bed in hysterics. I see something in my peripheral only to spot Kinume quietly watching us in the background with a bittersweet smile on her face. Oh god I need air, can’t breathe, too much laughing! I swear one day I’m going to die of laughter, on my tombstone will be RIP Ceil, Death by laughter. Maybe something else, who knows? I turn back to face Mirai and Haskell who is also trying to recover and wipe the tears flowing from their eyes. Mirai begins to move a bit and opens her mouth once more.

‘Se-’ Her cracked voice is suddenly cut off by horrid coughing. Mirai’s body curling itself forward and shaking from the effort. She continues to hack and cough loudly, obviously struggling. I reach forward and rub her back in circles, unsure what else I could do for her. Haskell quickly gets up and dashes from the room. I hope they’re getting something useful like water. The coughs began to subside but not without one final heave and my heart skips a beat when I spot something covering Mirai’s hand. I quickly yank her hand towards me and she makes a noise of protest. I inspect her hand but there was nothing wrong...was I hallucinating that? I glance away from Mirai and see Kinume looking at me questioningly. Huh, weird. I absentmindedly continue to rub circles into Mirai’s back as her side collapses into me, exhausted from all of the energy spent up. The door creaks open as Haskell strides back into the room, a cup of water in their hands. I lean Mirai up against my chest in order to try and help get something into her throat. Minutes pass and Mirai is still breathing heavily but she brings her trembling hands up. It takes me a second to realise she’s trying to sign, but I don’t get any of it. Haskell shakes their head and suddenly looks exasperated. They look to me with a sigh and begin translating.

‘She says that hurt.’ I blink as it settles in, the directness of it caught me by surprise and brings a tiny laugh from me.

‘Well, I would think so haha.’ I look back down to Mirai and find she’s simply looking forward. Haskell places their hand on her head and gently soothes her. Eventually Mirai’s breathing begins to even out, with only a few minor coughs in between. A feeling of sisterly...motherly pride? I don’t know, swells within me and I whisper to Haskell.

‘What a good big sibling you are.’ Haskell flusters and brings their hand back to their chest. Did they not know they were doing that? I laugh and Haskell pouts at me.

‘Shut up.’

‘That’s impossible.’ They smile at me and nod in agreeance. Well that’s rude.

‘You weren’t supposed to agree.’ They smirk.

‘But it’s the truth!’ I shake my head at them, I mean they not wrong really. Haskell falls backwards so their whole body is on the bed and I follow suit, bringing Mirai down with me. Haskell stares into me and I feel a little uncomfortable actually...Until they close their eyes and begin to nod off. I smile and am about to turn around when I hear a whisper.

‘I love you.’ I flinch for some reason and turn back to face Haskell. They aren’t fully asleep yet but they’re pretending they are....I should play along. 

‘I love you too.’ I lean over to kiss their forehead before turning around once more. Kinume is sitting(?) on the floor next to the bed.

‘What are you doing?’ Kinume looks up at me.

‘Looking at you.’ I snort and then feel heat rush to my face. Kinume giggles at me and covers her mouth with her hand.

‘Stop that!’ I whisper shout at her and she keeps laughing. I pout at her and her giggles begin to die down as she stares at me once more.

‘How are you feeling?’ I ponder for a moment.

‘Better than I was.’ She hums.

‘Well that’s an improvement.’ My stomach’s doing flips and I begin to squirm a bit. Kinume side glances me.

‘Is something wrong?’ I go to shake my head but pause, there’s no point hiding from her.

‘I just feel really gross.’ Kinume has a slight frown and lifts her body to kneel in front of me. Her face is just across from me but I feel no breaths of air or warmth coming from her.

‘Why is that?’ I feel tears begin to pool at my eyes and my heart clenches.

‘I’m so...so fucked up that’s why. I just can’t believe I-’ Kinume shushes me in the middle of my rambling. Her features softened and it looks like she wants to reach and comfort me. But she can’t because she’s incorporeal. Instead she smiles and speaks.

‘You’re beautiful the way you are Ceil.’ What did she just say? My face flushes and I can feel the immense heat in my face. 

‘Wh-what?’ Kinume is still smiling.

‘I said you’re beautiful.’ I know what she said but what the hell?! She stands up and begins to walk out of the room. She turns back to me.

‘Now get some rest, we’ll all be here when you wake up.’ She goes through the door and my heart suddenly feels like flying. I feel...safe? I’m not sure how to describe it but it feels awesome. With this feeling surging through me my eyes begin to flutter shut as the events of the day finally crash down on me.


	15. Gay Panic TM

The morning is a slow one thankfully. I was disturbed by sunlight coming across my eyes which woke me up from my slumber. Ugh, stupid sun waking me up. I lift my arm over my head so the shadow covers my eyes. I guess I forgot to close the blinds yesterday. Guess I better get ready at some point. I go to stretch my other arm only to feel a resistance. I peer over and see Mirai clinging onto it. Oh great, here we go I always love this game. Try to untangle yourself without waking the other person up. So fun. I begin to wiggle my way out of her gentle grip rather easily but she stirs like every 5 seconds. So bloody tedious. When I’m finally free I stand up and stretch. There’s just a good feeling you get when you stretch but it’s only when you stretch. I relax my muscles and bring my arms down to my sides. I look at Haskell and Mirai still sleeping peacefully on the bed, the sunlight somehow not managing to attack them. I walk over to the blinds to close them and I realise that Kinume isn’t here. Thinking of her made me remember what happened last night and my face instantly reddens. 

‘Why did she have to say that? I suck at taking compliments.’ I shake my head and slap my cheeks in an attempt to disperse the heat. Focusing my attention once more I glance around the room and realise she’s not anywhere in the room. I wonder where she could be. I walk out of the room and into the hallway. I travel down until I see one of the doors open and figure standing in the corner.  My heart starts pumping and I can hear my thoughts of run, run, runrunrunrun, until I recognise the brown hair and outfit. Kinume is standing in the corner of the room staring at something. I quietly walk in and move so I can try to see what she’s looking at. She seems to be staring at a mirror, but of course nothing is being reflected back at her. Now that I’m looking at her a slight tremor seems to be rippling through her. I can’t see her face but her hands were balled up and gripping her dress tightly. What is she doing? She suddenly takes in a breath and her voice startles me.

‘Good morning Ceil.’ She turns to face me with a smile on her face as usual. Ah crap I’ve been found out. Say something!

‘U-uh haha uh hi?’ Wow Ceil, you should go jump in a hole now and just rot there. 

‘How are you doing? Did you sleep well?’ Oh boy now she’s asking questions. I can’t function at all.

‘I’m all good and uh yeah I slept pretty well thanks.’ Alright good job.

‘How about you?’ CEIL GHOSTS DON’T SLEEP! WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!

‘I’m doing fine, I’m glad to know that you’re doing better.’ I simply nod my head, I’m doing so terribly.

‘Perhaps you should take it easy for the day?’ 

‘Uh yeah, that would be nice.’ Kinume hums in thought and looks to the side.

‘I would suggest going somewhere but that might be too strenuous for the girls.’ 

‘Yeah I agree. It’s a little difficult right now.’ I trail off and a sort of awkward silence settles between us. Kinume swivels around and heads towards the door. Turning to face me and her handing gesturing to the door, with a small smile she stares at me.

‘Shall we go?’ I feel a small smile tug at my face and I dramatically bow with a flourish of my hands.

‘Of course milady.’ Kinume giggles as I stride forward confidently. I walk right out the door and downstairs into the kitchen. Then I realise I need to make food….ugh

‘Well you know what they say!’ I turn to Kinume who has a puzzled look.

‘If it takes effort, F it!’ Kinume sighs and shakes her head. 

‘Come on Ceil, you all need to eat.’ I mumble beneath my breath about how much of a pain it is and Kinume places her hand on her hip. There’s some form of an aura coming from her that makes me anxious. I put my hands up in surrender and begin to turn around.

‘Fine, fine. I’m doing it.’ Kinume’s stance relaxes. 

‘Very good.’ I go to set about my work when I feel something pull my shirt. I whip around and only see Kinume behind me. What? Kinume is still smiling, but it looks like she’s hiding something. I feel a tug again and look down to see a nest of hair beneath me. It’s just Mirai...phew.

‘Morning Mirai!’ I try to sound perky but it comes out sort of deformed. Mirai looks up at me and nods her head. She brings her hands up and waves at me. She looks around the kitchen and tilts her head at me. Is she asking what I’m doing?

‘I’m making breakfast!’ She looks confused but nods her head nonetheless. I think for a moment while an idea forms in my mind.

‘Did you want to help?’ Mirai doesn’t move but brings up her hands to sign ‘help?’. I nod my head in response.

‘Yeah, help!’ Mirai nods her head and stands at my hip. I lift her up and onto the counter, she’s just so short. I feel a little bad haha. I show her how to wash her hands and she simply copies whatever I do. I wonder what we should have...the souls of the innocent? I turn to Mirai and she looks back at me with wonder. A laugh escapes me, no Ceil that’s bad! Now I want bagels...bagels it is! Wait are bagels for breakfast or lunch? What if it’s for brunch?! Ah! Existential crisis alert! Whatever! I clench my fist and launch it into the air.

‘Bagels!’ I watch as Mirai lifts her hands in the air as well, but not with the same amount of enthusiasm. I laugh and begin to prepare. Some point during trying to decide what to put on my bagels Haskell wonders down sluggishly. They turn to me and begin to walk into the kitchen. 

‘Well good morning!’ They simply grunt and turn on the kettle. Ouch.

‘Hey at least say hello!’ Haskell turns to me then to Mirai.

‘Morning Mirai’ Mirai tilts her head forward in acknowledgement, traitor!

‘What about me?!’ They simply glare at me as they reach for a mug. I hear a mumble.

‘Not until I’ve had coffee…’ Wait...coffee? 

‘You can’t have coffee! Have tea instead!’ I lunge for the mug in their hands as a struggle ensues for dominance.

‘I can have whatever I want!

‘No you can’t!’

‘Go away!’

‘Neveeeeer!’ This continues on for a while until we both stare at each other and cross our arms over our chests. 

‘Fine then.’ I smirk in victory as Haskell pulls out a tea bag and has two teaspoons of sugar. 

‘Hey I want some!’ Haskell side glares me and then rolls their eyes as they pull out two more mugs. 

‘Thanks Haskell!’ I hug them and they shake their head with a smile. I face Mirai once more only to see she’s nibbling on one half of the bagel. I walk towards her and take it from her hands. I wag my finger at her.

‘No, no, no. That’s not how you do it.’ I laugh and bring the other part of the bagel over. I smear some cream cheese onto it. Then a layer of ham and a layer of herbs. I pass it back to her as she takes a bit. Her eyes seem to sparkle a bit and she continues eating with a little more pace. Hah! I’m so good at this! I must’ve had a weird look on my face because Haskell is giving me a weird stare. I stick my tongue out at them and they turn back to the tea, pouring in milk. 

‘There you go.’ Haskell walks past me and stands next to Mirai who was still content eating her bagel. 

‘Thank you!’ I wonder of and pick up the other two cups. I place one next to Mirai and bring the other to my lips. 

‘It’s ho-’ A warning comes too late as the scalding liquid burns my tongue. I place the cup down and fan my tongue. Jumping around like that’s going to help.

‘It’s hot! Hot!’ 

‘Of course it is!’ Haskell fill a cup with water and passes it over to me. I take it gratefully and scull it down as fast as I can. Relief washes through me as my tongue is no longer subjected to the fire. I smile at Haskell again.

‘Well that was fun!’ They huff and go back to their original spot next to Mirai.

‘It’s only funny when someone else is suffering.’ They smile at my comment and give a wink.

‘Exactly.’ I huff at their attitude and turn around in fake anger. They giggle behind me and I hear them whisper something to Mirai. I turn back around to face them and Haskell is quietly speaking to Mirai. I smile only to realise something strange about what they were doing.

‘Wait, Mirai doesn’t understand english.’ Haskell turns to me with a sad smile and Mirai looks at me uninterested. 

‘Yeah, I was seeing how much of what I taught her is sticking. She gets most of it but it’s a long process.’ Mirai remains quiet but perks up at the sound of her name throughout the conversation. We continue to discuss things for a while and fall into meaningless chatter. I missed this, wasting time just talking about how our world is controlled by aliens and vines aren’t memes. Good times, good times.


	16. Panic! With The Pickles

_An incessant dripping floods my ears, despite my eyes being opened I’m purged in utter darkness. I can’t make a sound at all, what’s happening? I don’t remember anything...the dripping continues despite my annoyance. It’s quiet otherwise, the silence is completely unnerving. Someone walks by me, I startle and flinch from my place on the floor. I don’t see who they are but it immediately sends my nerves off. I feel so strange, what is going on. I hear some sort of sound and that’s all the warning I get before a horrified shriek rips through the air. The voice is completely broken, worn down from either too much use of complete lack of it. I whip around to find out what’s happening and- What the...no, no this...this can’t be. But-but I-I nonononononononono. Oh gods, someone help me this must be some sort of dream I can’t-_

Ciel POV

It’s been quiet for a while now, nothing much has happened as we continue to integrate ourselves back in the world. Too bad nothing lasts forever, it was all good until now. I struggle with all my might, my hand desperately grasping the cold surface. Trying to find my grip to stop my hand from slipping once more. No matter how hard I try it’s completely useless. I don’t want to drag anyone else into this. I grunt with effort but it seems like anything I do won’t help me now. 

‘Yep, it’s completely stuck.’ I slam down the jar in anger, stupid freaking lid won’t come undone. What is this complete mahogany? How dare this impudent lid oppose one as almighty as myself?! 

I hear the pitter-patter of footsteps behind me, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Haskell tip toeing towards me glancing to the jar of pickles and my frustrated face. 

‘Do you want help?’ They ask cautiously 

‘NO FUCK OFF’ I scream back at them clearly struggling.

‘Right, okay, give me the jar.’

‘NO’

‘Yes pass it over’ Haskell insists, as they reach over my shoulder, stretching for the jar, but I keep it just out of reach, using my hips and ass to knock them back far enough, and twisting around. But Haskell doesn’t give up following my movements around they become more persistent using both arms trying to trap me, but I just bend over and push my hips into to theirs and spinning out of their reach, dancing around the kitchen island and into the dining room. 

‘CEIL GET BACK HERE AND LET ME HELP YOU!!’ 

‘NO I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF!!!’

I jumped over the couch, ready to run into the other room, but my foot caught the side of the seat, I face planted, hands outstretched clutching the jar tightly, phew it’s safe.

A heavy weight was suddenly added to my back, 

‘Haskell you ass get off me!’

‘No let me help you’ 

‘No’

‘Yes’

‘No!’ This goes on for a bit as we roll around, and in one second, I feel the couch End. Our faces fall in unison, we both fall with a loud bang, we stare as the jar seems to fall in slow motion and we struggle upright, clambering up to grab to jar , but it misses our fingers by a millimetre and we watch in horror as the jar slowly reaches the floor…..

 

And just before it hits, a small hand shot out and grabbed the pickles, collectively both our eyes shot up and looked at our saviour small, precious, child Mirai. She simply stands holding the jar with a small smile on her face.

‘Seal!’ Her voice comes out, better than it has been but still quiet squeaky. Haskell and I release a deep sigh of relief, I stand on my feet to walk towards her.

‘Thanks, Mirai. You’re a hero for sure!’ She doesn’t respond but hold the jar out towards me.

‘Seal!’ I reach out to grab it before it’s snatched out of her hands and I hear the lid pop open. Haskell has the jar in their hands and holds it out to me now, finally opened. A despaired face falls on my features and I collapsed onto my hands and knees.

‘Oh the shame!’ I over exaggerate everything in my utter ‘shame’ my hands flailing like a fish out of water. Haskell rolls their eyes and takes a pickle out of the jar. They take a bite and begin walking off towards the stairs. I rise a bit more to face Haskell.

‘Hey, where are you going?’

‘To my room.’ 

‘With my pickle jar?!’ They turn and face with a smirk.

‘You didn’t want it.’ They turn back around and start bolting up the stairs. That little brat! How dare they take my pickle jar!

‘Get back here!’ I scramble to my feet and start taking the steps two at a time. I finally reach the top, intent on catching them when I hear quite the crack. Suddenly I’m falling forward and I feel the adrenaline pumping through me. Shock floods me as I try to understand what the hell just happened. Pain surges through my toe and I begin screaming and cursing. Haskell rushes over to my side to inspect my foot and laughs at the fact I had just slammed it against the top step. I glare at them so hard, don’t they see how much I’m suffering?!

‘Fuck you Haskell! It really hurts!’ Haskell is literally rolling around on the ground while I pathetically hold my foot, pretending it’s doing something to help but it’s really not. Mirai appears up the stairs and looks indifferent to what’s happening around her. I look at her, tears starting to build up behind my eyes. I stretch my arms out like a child.

‘Mirai! Come give me a hug! I’m hurt!’ Mirai seems to ponder for a moment but ends up holding her arms out as well. She hugs, albeit awkwardly, and pats my back. At least this child cares about me. I pout and face at Haskell who is struggling for air, clutching their stomach in what appears to be pain. Their breath comes out in gasps as they try to speak once more.

‘Oh my...god. That was the...funniest shit I’ve seen...in like forever.’ Little giggles continue to escape from them and I just hug Mirai tighter. I feel a tiny hand start patting my back a bit harder, signalling she didn’t like the sudden change. I loosen my grip and simply place her on my lap facing forward. 

‘Geez Haskell that was really mean.’ They simply smile wider and bring out the pickle jar.

‘Want one?’

‘Do you even need to ask?’ I snatch it from them and begin munching on one. I offer one to Mirai who shakes her head. Maybe she doesn’t like pickles? What if she’s lesbian? No, stop Ceil she’s like 6 or something hahaha. I shrug my shoulders and continue hoarding the pickles all for myself. Haskell stand up and dusts themselves off, offering a hand to Mirai. They retract their hand for a moment when they begin to sign as they speak.

‘Come on, we got some more learning to do.’ Mirai has a small smile as she nods her head slowly. She grabs Haskell's hand as she stands up once more. She faces me and does a small wave of goodbye while Haskell smiles at me and turns around. I stay on the floor a little longer, glaring at the step that caused my ‘elegant’ fall. Stairs and I have a love/hate relationship most days. Today is a hate day for sure.

A moment passes by as a thought flashes through my head. There was someone missing who I didn’t hear laughing or fretting over me with concern like she usually did. I gather myself off the ground and dust myself off even though the place is clean. I look around by Kinume is nowhere to be seen. Now that I think about it I haven’t seen much of the ghost recently, I sort of forgot about her. Wow, I feel horrible all of a sudden, I mean I’m the only one who can see and I haven’t even been paying attention to her. She’s just be quiet lately! Where has she been anyways? My new objective set in mind I begin to look around the house for Kinume. I look just about everywhere inside the house before huffing in annoyance. Where could she be? She wouldn’t just leave would she? Holy shit, what if her spirit was appeased and she just disappeared or something?! No, no, no I don’t want that to happen! Unease begins to grasp at my heart and I suddenly start feeling like I could be sick at any moment. My search starts to become a little more desperate as I look outside but she’s nowhere to be seen. I can’t even ask if anyone else has seen her because guess what? That can’t see her! Come on Kinume! This is usually the part where you appear out of nowhere and ask if I’m doing okay. I search and search endlessly until night begins. Haskell and Mirai come up to me and check what I’m up too but I don’t really give them an answer. Night began to creep up...but no matter how hard I looked. I couldn’t find Kinume anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> good luck reading this, your gonna need it-thecrayonsong
> 
> i dunno what to say except thanks so THANK U VERY MUCH  
> ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿-Bibbleicious
> 
> -updates weekly-


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